Product review: SURPAHS WAVE Bamboo In-Drawer Knife Storage Block

This bamboo knife block is very attractive and practical. I like the horizontal orientation of the knife block. It meant to be an in-drawer knife block but I keep in on the kitchen counter, under the cabinets where a vertical knife block I had before did not fit well. I like bamboo because it is hard, lasts a long time and look attractive. This knife block has a beautiful light brown natural finish.

The video include a photo of the block with various knives I own. You can see that the block can accommodate various sizes including a ceramic knife in its sheath.

Here are the measurements:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
♦ 17" long
♦ 5.25" wide
♦ 5 long slots
♦ 6 shot slots
♦ It weighs 2 pounds 15.4 oz

Bamboo knife block care:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
♦ Knife block is not dishwasher safe. It should be washed with hot soapy water
♦ Manufacturer recommends applying mineral or vegetable oil to the surface

I thought the knife block is well made, nicely finished, and looks beautiful. I would recommend it.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.



Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: LOFTEK® EP4 4 Port USB Wall Charger Station

Loftek 4 port charger comes with a 44 inch cord and a regular sized plug. I was able to replace two dual chargers that took up three slots on my power strip with one regular size plug which is connected to this 4 port USB charger.  I am always running out of slots on my power strips so this charging station a big space saver for me.

The charger has two 5 volt 2.1 Amp ports and two 5 volt 1 Amp valts.

The unit's size is 4.5"L x 3.5"W x 1.25"H. It weights 8.2 oz (including the cord).

I charged my Galaxy Tablet on each of the slots and I measure the current with a current monitor to see what power is delivered on each port.  Results are pretty good and consistent!

➨ How I tested this charging station:
======================

I have been testing chargers for a long time, and people often ask me why results differ so much from charger to charger and often port to port. The results are different because they are affected by a number of factors. To help with a numerical explanation of the differences I began using a USB current monitor which shows the voltage and the current flowing between the battery and the device.

The amount of energy transferred from the charger to the device is calculated by multiplying voltage and current. Most of the chargers are 5V devices and most devices show the voltage very close to 5V. The interesting number is the current as it varies from unit to unit and from port to port.

The current varies based on what the device requires and what battery provides. This communication happens using different protocols depending on OS. Newer Android OS versions have adapted their protocols to get better performance from ports aimed at Apple devices. An addition variable that effects performance is whether a data cable or charging cable is used to charge the device. The charging cables short the two data connections together (rendering them useless for data transfer), but this fools devices to see the cable as an AC power connection, and thus accept the higher current of the charging source.

The 10 minutes test consists of charging each mobile device on each port of the battery pack for 10 minutes and measure how much each unit was charge in that 10 minute period. Since the charging speed is non-linear I start charging each device from approximately the same charge level. I use Battery App by Elvison to determine how each device recognized the charging source. 'AC' status means the charging is at full charging rate. 'USB' status indicates charging at a lower charging rate. 'Discharging' status means that the charging rate is below the power that the device is consuming so it slows down the discharge rate but does not re-charge.

➨ Test Results:
======================

✔ Samsung Galaxy Tablet
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Port 1: 5V ~ 2.1A ~~~ 10 minute test: ~~~~~~ AC rate ~~~ 4% in 10 minutes (charging cable)
Port 1: 5V ~ 2.1A ~~  current monitor: ~~~~~ 1.65A, 5.07V (charging cable)

Port 2: 5V ~ 2.1A ~~~ 10 minute test: ~~~~~~ AC rate ~~~ 4% in 10 minutes (charging cable)
Port 2: 5V ~ 2.1A ~~  current monitor: ~~~~~ 1.59A, 5.03V (charging cable)

Port 3: 5V ~ 1A ~~~~~ 10 minute test: ~~~~~~ AC rate ~~~ 4% in 10 minutes (charging cable)
Port 3: 5V ~ 1A ~~~~  current monitor: ~~~~~ 1.57A, 5.03V (charging cable)

Port 4: 5V ~ 1A ~~~~~ 10 minute test: ~~~~~~ AC rate ~~~ 4% in 10 minutes (charging cable)
Port 4: 5V ~ 1A ~~~~  current monitor: ~~~~~ 1.61A, 5.10V (charging cable)

I really like this charger.  It charges quickly and I like that it takes up just one slot on my power strip.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Car Black Box -Timetec Road Hawk 1080P HD Car Vehicle Road Traffic Accident/Incident Dash Windshield Dashboard Video Audio Camera Recorder Camcorder

Road Hawk is a HD video recorder which is designed to be mounted in your vehicle and record video, GPS, and audio. It records in the continuous loop, so when there is no more space on the SD card it overwrites the oldest files. It has two modes "normal" and "event". Normal mode means it records all the time, "event" mode means it starts recording when an impact is detected. The camera records full HD 1080p video, the quality of the video is excellent.

The camera comes with the software which displays the recorded video along with the speed, coordinates of the vehicle, and a map which shows the position of the vehicle with street names. The video files can be displayed with other software, but then GPS information (speed, coordinates, map) are not shown.

In attached video I show both screen shots of the Road Hawk software as well as MP4s recorded by Road Hawk played directly with Amazon video player. The video contains recordings made over 2 days. The first day the camera was forward facing, the total trip was 4 hours. The next day we took a 2 hour trip and had the camera mounted on the rear window. When the camera runs out of room it overrides the oldest video, however the 6 hour of 1080p video did not overwrite any information. The video includes recordings made during day light as well as night time. I also show how the camera was mounted for both trips.

The Road Hawk package includes the camera, 8 GB SD card, cables to plug into the car outlet and GPS, mounts for the camera and GPS, CD card reader with a USB connection, the manual, and the CD with the software. The camera supports cards up to 64 GB. The camera has 127º Wide Angle Lens. The cords for power and GPS are extremely long. The power cord is 196 inches long, the GPS cord is 198 inches long.

The package was thoughtfully put together, I especially appreciated the SD card reader as I installed the software on the laptop which does not have a built-in SD card reader.

The only thing I did not like about the package was that the mounts were the type that required them to be permanently adhered to the car with a sticky tape. Instead of using Road Hawk mounts I used my own screw mounts with a suction cup. This allowed me to move the camera when I needed to do so.

The documentation refers to the camera as forwarded facing. One of the reason to have this camera is to help your case if you are involved in an accident. However, according to Massachusetts (where I live) traffic law the vehicle that is behind is always at fault no matter what, so a forward facing camera can only help convict a person living in Massachusetts. So we decided to try to mount the camera facing backwards. It worked just as well as you see in the included video.

Installation tip: the GPS antenna has a push in connector. Initially I tried screwing it in and it was not going in. Oops! User error!

Software tip: You need to start Road Hawk software connected to the internet. If you connect after you started the software much of the functionality does not work - you cannot select segments to play and you do not see the map.

Overall, I was impressed with the camera and the video it captured. The only thing I did not like were the mounts which required permanent attachment. I used my own screw-mount windshield mount, which allowed me to easily move the camera from the front to the rear window.

Manufacturer of Road Hawk asked me as one of the reviewers who have a history of writing informative reviews to test this dash cam and post a video review to make it easier for future potential customers make their buying decisions. I was asked to write an honest review whether positive or negative and I have included both positives and negatives of my experience with the camera. I hope the video helps you see what to expect.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: TaoTronics® Business Card Scanner Colour USB Handyscan

This mini scanner scans images the size of a business card. It can scan small photos or small sections of text. If you need to scan full pages in a book or legal size sheets of paper a flat scanner is better. However, if you need to scan business cards or receipts this small scanner will do a nice job.

In order to work the scanner needs to be attached to a computer running Windows (USB cable is provided). The software package that comes with the mini scanner is used to configure the scanner, put the scanner into "scan" mode, and post process the image (save the image or run OCR software). To scan the image you need to pan the scanner device by hand over the text you want to scan. As you pan you need to hold down a "scan" button on top of the device. The package includes a tray which makes it easier for a business card to stay in place while you are scanning. When the scan is completed the image will appears on the computer screen. Once you see the image you can choose your next step: save the file or OCR (optical character recognition). OCR converts the image to a text file you can edit.

I found that the image scanning software works very well. The OCR software is not as good as the other OCR packages I have tried. It does not auto-rotate so you need to put the scanned image in the orientation it expects otherwise the recognition does not work at all. Even when text is oriented correctly the recognition it is not 100% if the text uses script font or has non-white background.

In attached video I show the installation of the mini scanner software, and then using it to scan two business cards. After scanning each business card I post process both with the OCR software. The first business card is white with simple font and OCR generates accurate results. The second business card is yellow and uses a script font. The resulting text has many errors.

Manufacturer of this mini scanner asked me as one of the reviewers who have a history of writing informative reviews to test this scanner and post a video review to make it easier for future potential customers make their buying decisions. I was asked to write an honest review whether positive or negative and I have included both positives and negatives of my experience with the scanner. I am not paid to review, however the manufacture provided this product free of cost for testing purposes.

This scanner is most useful for scanning business cards and receipts, especially if you need to keep track of these things while you are travelling where its small size is a big asset.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: iFlash® Ultra Slim 3200mAh Portable Power Bank Backup External Battery

Ultra Slim 3200mAh External Battery Pack looks very slick, it is quite thin. One unique feature of this external power pack is that it has a micro USB cable built into the side of the unit (see attached photo collage). It pops out of the side on a coiled cable, so if your mobile device takes a micro USB connector you don't need to carry any extra cables. This built-in cable delivers very rapid charging (see test results below). The power pack also has a port which allows you to connect other connectors, so it works with devices that have proprietary connectors as well.

I tested Ultra Slim 3200mAh External Battery Pack with Galaxy Nexus Phone (running ICS 4.0.4), Samsung Galaxy 7.7 Tablet (running ICS 4.0.4) and iPad Mini.

I received this power bank from the manufacture for an honest review be it positive or negative. Top reviewers are often asked to review new battery packs and one of the benefits of being asked to test different power banks is that it gives me an opportunity to compare them to each other using the same charging test, so I can compare them using "apples to apples" comparison. This set of tests allows me to provide unbiased results as the numbers speak for the performance of each unit.

I received two identical units black and white, having two of them allows me to test for consistency in manufacturing. Ideally I want to see the same performance numbers for both units, and this was the case with the two Ultra Slim power packs .

My methodology is to charge each mobile device on each port of the unit for 10 minutes and measuring how much each unit was charge in that 10 minute period. In addition I tested charging two mobile devices at the same time. Each line in the table below represents a separate 10 minute test. I use Battery App by Elvison to determine how each device recognized the charging source. 'AC' status means the charging is at full charging rate. 'USB' status indicates charging at a lower charging rate. 'Discharging' status means that the charging rate is below the power that the device is consuming so it slows down the discharge rate but does not re-charge.

➨ General features:
======================

Ultra Slim 3200mAh external battery weighs 3.2 oz. Its size is 2.25" x4.25 " x 0.375". The pack has one USB output port and one built-in micro USB cable.

In addition to the built-in micro USB cable Ultra Slim comes with a charging cable and two tips - micro USB and iPad. It did not have tips for Samsung Galaxy Tab or lightening connector for iPad Mini and I used my own charging cables during the tests. I am attaching a photo of the Ultra Slim 3200mAh during one of the test next to my tablet for size reference. You can find this photo by following 'customer photos' link under the main photo in this listing.

Ultra Slim 3200mAh looks very slick: it is thin, has a nice finish, and in general has a look and shape of a smart phone. It shows the charge level by displaying 25%, 50%, 75%, 100% on panel. When it is charging, however, this indicator gets turned off. But the charging continued even when the lights were off. This is a little different from how other external power pack indicators work (they stay on when you are charging),so I wanted to mention it. In addition to the charging capabilities, Ultra Slim has a built-in flashlight.

➨ Test Results:
======================

✔ Galaxy Nexus Phone
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
White unit: AC ~~~~~ 6% change in charge in 10 minutes (built-in mciro USB charging cable)
Black unit: AC ~~~~~ 6% change in charge in 10 minutes (built-in mciro USB charging cable)

White unit: AC ~~~~~ 2% change in charge in 10 minutes (separate charging cable)
Black unit: AC ~~~~~ 2% change in charge in 10 minutes (separate charging cable)

✔ Samsung Galaxy 7.7 tablet
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
White unit: AC ~~~~~ 1% change in charge in 10 minutes (separate charging cable)
Black unit: AC ~~~~~ 1% change in charge in 10 minutes (separate charging cable)

✔ iPad Mini tablet
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
White unit: AC ~~~~~ 1% change in charge in 10 minutes (separate charging cable)
Black unit: AC ~~~~~ 1% change in charge in 10 minutes (separate charging cable)

➨ Key finding:
======================
✔ This power pack has great performance with built-in micro USB cable.
✔ Using your own charging cables the power pack works with both Galaxy 7.7 Tablet and iPad Mini but performance is on the slow side.
✔ I observed the same performance for both the black and white model, which is good and reflects consistency in the manufacturing process.

I highly recommend this power pack to people who can take advantage of the built-in micro USB cable.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Kinivo BTX180 Wireless Bluetooth Mini Portable Speaker

During the last year I have tested a lot of small bluetooth speakers, I would rank Kinivo BTX180 sound towards the top of the pack but not at the very top. It has good mid-tone and OK bass.

I am attaching a video which has several short snippets of music to demonstrate the speaker's sound. As one of the top reviewers I get asked to test and review a fairly large number of speakers. This allows me to compare a large number of speakers to each other. To help me make this comparison I always use the same two pieces of music, so I can compare speakers using "apples-to-apples" comparison. As a stress test for the bass I use Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor. The second piece of music (Tchaikovsky) does not have a lot bass and allows me to test the mid-range. Kinivo BTX180 speaker did well on the mid-tone test, it did OK at the bass range, but not as good as Kinivo BTX270. On the other hand Kinivo BTX270 is a bit larger.

In the video I switch between the tablet's built-in speaker and Kinivo BTX180 speaker so you can compare the sound. You can hear that the speaker produce the sound that is richer, fuller, and louder sound the the built-in speaker.

Kinivo BTX180 speaker is 2 3/8" tall. It weighs in at 5.8 oz. Its small size makes a good travel companion.

The speaker comes with 2 cables - charging cable and an audio cable. The speaker supports 3 EQ settings: Normal mode, Bass mode and Treble mode. Play time is 4-5 hours, standby time is 900 hours (according to the manual)

A note on pairing: The initial pairing works well and the speaker automatically reconnects if you turn it off and then turn it back on.

This speaker has a couple of features I did not like:

✔ The speaker has a voice confirmations "Power on", "Connected", "Power Off", and so forth. After the initial "Oh!" the voice prompts grew tiresome, I prefer a blinking light to a voice. These voice alerts cannot be disabled.

✔ The speaker has light effects, so if you like listening to music in the dark or when you fall asleep this speaker may not be the best choice as it generates a light show.

I received Kinivo BTX180 speaker from the manufacture for testing. Based on other speakers of similar size/price I rated this speaker as 5 stars. The Kinivo BTX180 speaker performed well with music without strong base as well as when I listened to spoken human voice (e.g. news), bass sounded pretty good for a speaker of this small size.

In addition to the video I am also posting a photo of the speaker, which can be be located by following 'customer photos' link under the main photo.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.



Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: GO ID Emergency Medical ID Kit

GO-ID is an emergency ID which gives first responders essential information about you.

I have a friend who is an EMT and decided that the most useful review I can give will be to include feedback from the professional in the field who will be working with these alert tags.

Here are the key points from our conversation as he examined the GO-ID tag:

✔ EMTs are trained to look for Medic Alerts as jewelry or as a wrist band
✔ What is the best way to wear GO-ID alert? He said he would put it on a gold chain around the neck. Wearing under the watch would be fine.
✔ Where is a bad place to put it? EMTs do not look in the pockets, so putting it on a key-chain is not a good idea. Attaching to a backpack/pocketbook is not a good idea as they look at the body only.
✔ Who needs a medical alert? Should everyone wear one? People that need medical alerts are people with special medical conditions: allergies, diabetic, pacemaker... any condition that an EMT would need to know to keep a person alive.
✔ Do not use alerts to specify emergency contact, EMTs do not look for this information. Their job is only to keep you alive not to contact anyone.
✔ If you don't have a special condition you do no need a medical alert.
✔ EMTs look for alert tags only when dealing with unresponsive patients who are alone as part of the assessment process.
✔ GO-ID tags were new to my friend and since they are new they are less recognizable than the Medic Alert bracelet.

Now, for my experience with GO-ID.

The GO-ID kit consists of the metal tag, a silicone holder, and spring lock which can be used to attach the holder to a key ring, and a set on double-sticky labels which stick to the metal tag an contain the personal information you want to relay to EMT. The metal tag 2" long and 1.125" wide. I decided that it sticks out a bit too much when placed under the watch (see attached photo), so before I talked to my EMT friend I thought I would put on my key-chain. After talking to my friend I decided that attaching to the shoe laces is best, since it does not look like something you would wear on a chain as jewelry.

The content of the tag can be printed on the GO-ID web site. The GO-ID web site required me to register. Once you sign up the web site send you your login ID and password in the clear via email, so don't use a password you use for secure web sites.

When I used Firefox I ran into an issue editing the form for creating the label, but was able to complete this task using Chrome Browser. Printing of the label is a little tricky. It involves printing a template, attaching a special GO-ID label to the template, printing the actual label, and removing the circle which has a sticky side that attaches to the tag. I printed a couple of test labels which did not line up perfectly.

When it was time to create the real label I decided to hand print the information: I could line it up better plus I did not want to enter my personal information to be stored on the web site. I wish the registration was optional and that my personal information was not stored on the web site. If registration is required then a better security practice is to generate a random password and send to the user if the password is forgotten rather than sending the user's password via email in the clear.

I am attaching a collage of several photos:

✔ Photo #1: Everything that came in the package
✔ Photo #2: The tag with the silicone holder removed
✔ Photo #3: The tag with information and silicone holder
✔ Photo #4: The GO-ID on my wrist for relative size

I received GO-ID from the manufacturer and told him that my review will be based on what my EMT friend's feedback on the id would be. Overall, my EMT friend liked a big medic alert bracelet best. He felt nothing is more noticeable. He thought GO-ID tags were OK if worn around the neck, wrist or shoe laces. They could be life saver for people with underlying conditions, but not needed by people without any special conditions.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★☆☆

Update

I received an email from the manufacturer of GO-ID bracelet with clarification that the only information stored on GO-ID web site for each user is their email/password. The information you enter to display on your GO-ID is not stored.