Last week, I attended CES for the first time and during my time there I was using a Powerbag backpack to keep all my devices charged. You can read what my first experience was like here. The Powerbag is a bag with a battery inside. They have got three different types (backpack, messenger, and briefcase) and a variety of models to choose from. Powerbag sent me their backpack for review, which is designed by fül. In fact, majority of their backpacks and messenger bags are designed by them.

The bag looks a bit bulky and is not the most elegant looking of backpacks, but I didn’t mind. However, from a budget perspective this backpack is definitely well priced. There are two main pockets in the back for storing your items. The largest pocket can hold up to a 16-inch laptop and it is padded on either side. The second largest pocket, has a variety of smaller pockets, a padded slot for an iPad or small tablet and a 3000 mAh battery.

In order to charge your device, you must use one of the included cables found in a small pouch located on the side of the bag. The backpack comes with a 30-pin plug for all iOS devices and two double ended micro/mini-USB plugs. Charging your devices is simple. Once you connect the device, you just press the Powerbag button, which is located on the front of the bag. Press it and it will light up to 4 LED lights hidden beneath the bag’s exterior to show how much remaining charge there is in the battery. A pretty cool feature  built into the battery is that it will automatically stop charging your devices once they are fully charged. Essentially, it is “smart” battery. In addition, the battery will automatically turn off once you remove your device, ensuring that you don’t accidentally drain it.

The battery locks into place, though it can be released by pushing on a small plastic tab. Included is an AC pack that can plug directly into the battery or connect to a port on the face of the bag for charging. Also, a USB port is built into the battery itself for other devices. During my test during CES, I was able to charge my iPhone 4S four times to full capacity from a charge of 10%, which is pretty darn good considering that the battery’s capacity is only 3000mAh.

Build quality of the Powerbag Backpack is fantastic. Zippers open and close smoothly and padding is offered on the back and suspension straps. However, it should be mentioned again that this isn’t one of the most elegant looking backpacks out there. With that being said, for the reasonable price and fantastic build quality this backpack is definitely worth a purchase if you want backup power on the go for your devices. You can purchase a Powerbag for $130 here.

Recently, I purchased Apple’s iPod nano, but not for the usual purpose; music player. I bought it to use as a watch (aka: iWatch). Just days after the 6^th generation iPod nano was announced, many companies started to realize that it would make a perfect watch. LunaTik is a watchband for your iPod nano. It is probably the best one I have seen to date. The LunaTik comes in a simple, but very well designed packaging showing the product on the front and a larger view of it on the back. Inside LunaTik’s box, you will find two Allen wrenches for installation of the iPod nano.

The LunaTik’s band is very thick and is made out of high quality silicone with plenty of adjustment holes to allow a precise fit. The finish of the hinge pins and buckle is stainless steel with a brushed finish, which makes it look and feel really nice. LunaTik’s body is made out of aluminum with a matte finish. The Nano is installed inside it by using the included Allen wrenches to take the case apart and slide the iPod nano inside. Installation was simple and the fit is secure. In addition, the LunaTik allows the dock connector and headphone jack to be positioned either to the right of left. In the end, the result is an elegant looking iWatch.The only con with the LunaTik is that it isn’t easy to remove your iPod nano from the case if needed. This is because Allen wrenches are needed to unscrew the screws, which takes a while.

At first, I thought that wearing an iPod nano on my wrist would be an impractical idea, but in use my opinion quickly changed. My iWatch’sbattery lasted for 18 days, which is pretty amazing. The combination of a touchscreen iPod with a wristband is genius and has a futuristic feel to it! It seems to catch a lot of people’s attention everywhere I go. The LunaTik is available for purchase in many colors and costs $79.95.

Logitech is popularly known for making speakers, gaming products and mice. The company also manufacturers all-in-one remotes under the Harmony brand. Recently, Logitech released a bunch of Harmony all-in-one remotes in India. We got the Logitech Harmony 650 remote for review. While on paper, an all-in-one remote sound very promising, read our review to find out how it actually fares in real life. At first glance, you will notice how awkwardly long the Harmony 650 is for a remote. Its almost 1.5 times bigger than a normal remote, and has lots of buttons, and I mean lots. The Harmony also has buttons, and I mean lots of them. A new user can easily get confused after seeing so many buttons.

Setup

Before using the Harmony remote, it must be connected to a computer and so that it could be setup. The Harmony houses a microUSB port, which is very common among mobile devices nowadays. After connecting the Harmony to their PC, users need to head over to Logitech’s Harmony website and setup the remote from there. Keep in mind, that downloading the Logitech Harmony software will not work. I downloaded the software, and tried to install it but the installer would exit midway without giving any error. I tried re-installing, re-downloaded the setup file, tried to install the app in compatibility mode in vain. Sadly, the Logitech Harmony website only works on Firefox and Internet Explorer. I got a compatibility error, when I visited the site on Chrome. While this might be a small issue for some, we should not forget that Chrome is rapidly gaining popularity. Hopefully, Logitech will fix this issue sooner than later.   The Harmony webpage is like a web-app, and provides you with step by step instructions on how to setup your Harmony. Before using the Harmony, users need to configure which all devices they will be using. This is a pretty tedious process, and involves finding out the model number of your device (TV, A.C etc), which can be a tough task if you have a seemingly older model. Thankfully, Logitech has a huge database of devices, and it automatically suggested me the correct model number of my LG TV. Even if you are not able to find the model number of your device, just enter the device make and type, and the Harmony should work with it. In my case, I just entered LG and TV as device manufacturer and make, and skipped all the remote setup and it worked flawlessly. While setting up the Harmony remote, you may be instructed to point the remote of the original device towards Harmony’s infrared sensor, and press some specified keys. Don’t worry if it does not work. It did not work for my LG TV, and ultimately I just skipped the whole thing. The Harmony still worked like a charm with my age-old LG TV though.

Day-To-Day Use

This particular model of the Logitech Harmony which I am reviewing (Harmony 650) supports a maximum of 5 devices only. Before using the remote with any new device, the remote must be connected to a PC and the make/model of the device must be synced to the remote. I found this to be quite cumbersome. It would have been nice if I could have directly added the device make and model no. from the remote itself. On a day to day basis, I found the Harmony remote to be quite useful in my living room. Sadly, if you thought that you can just sync the devices to the Harmony, and afterwards point it at the device and use it then you are wrong. Before using the Harmony with any device, you must specify which device you are going to use it with. The   small screen on the remote shows the name of all the devices synced to it, and then the users need to select the required device using the buttons around the screen. The main purpose of the Harmony remote is to unify the functions of all your remote. It will be mainly useful in living room and bedrooms, where people generally have a lot of remote controlled stuff including TV, A.C, DTH, Home Theatre and/or a music systems. After I had synced all the remote controlled devices with the Harmony 650, the remote worked flawlessly, on a day-to-day basis. There were a few hiccups like sometimes I had to press the buttons multiple times for the desired action to take place. One really nice touch from Logitech is the in-built accelerometer. Thanks to the accelerometer, the Harmony 650′s small screen automatically lights up when someone picks it up, and switches off when its kept down on a table. The battery life of the remote also seems to be pretty good. I have been using the remote for the last 1 month to control 5 of my devices, and there have not been any low battery warnings until now. Sadly, there is no battery indicator on the remote. It will only warn you when the battery is low.

Conclusion

I got another all-in-one remote, easily available at any big electronic retail stores in India, so that I could compare it to the Logitech Harmony 650. Unlike the Harmony, this all-in-one remote actually looks like a remote. Unlike the Harmony, the all-in-one remote from Hrvatski lacks a screen. Also, the remote will only work with a TV, DTH system, DVD player and/or a VCR. It does not support other popular remote controlled devices, commonly found in a household, like A.C, Home Theatre system, Hi-Fi music system and much more. Since this all-in-one remote does not have a screen, and it was not working with my LG TV, I actually had to go through a cumbersome process of finding the exact TV code specified in the remote’s manual for my LG TV and enter it. Thankfully, it worked just fine with my Tata Sky DTH system. Nevertheless, the price difference between the Logitech Harmony 650, and the Hrvatski all-in-one remote is negligible (4.5k vs 4k), and if you are looking for an all-in-one remote, the Harmony is your best bet. The much easier setup process, build quality and Logitech’s brand name are enough to buy the Harmony over its similarly priced competitors.

Earlier this week, I reviewed the Bluelounge‘s CableBox. It is an accessory that helps keep wires on your desk organized. Today, I will be reviewing Bluelounge‘s CableDrop. The accessory is meant for cables, but for an entire different purpose. On my desk, there are endless amount of USB cables and power cables! These wires become tangles behind my desk and where the space is needed most. Thankfully, CableDrop’s is an easy to use solution. CableDrop is a multipurpose cable clip for anywhere use.

I think, one of the largest benefit of the CableDrop is that they are tiny and fit anywhere from behind a desk, on a table edge, etc. Genius. Inserting cables into CableDrop is easy. It prevents your cables from falling to the ground every time you disconnect a device (ex: iPhone, iPad).

In addition, CableDrop is super simple to setup. It comes with a peel and stick backing with you stick wherever you want to. The only con is that no extra adhesive backings is provided. So, if you decide to change the placement of the CableDrop later, you’ll have to hope it sticks again or find an alternative.

CableDrop is  available in both bright and muted colors and are sold in packs of six. I would recommend this product to anyone who wants to clean up the wires on their desk.

When you have a lot of wires on and around your desk, it is painful to keep them organized. It is something I have always avoided doing, but thanks to Bluelounge’s CableBox there is an easy fix. Bluelounge has created a box called CableBoxthat allows you to easily store both power-strip, and excess wires that accompany it. Genius I tell you! That way, you can simply tie all the wires exiting through the box into a single, organized line of wire. In addition, the CableBox is beautiful.

There are two versions of the CableBox. The CableBox and CableBox Mini. As you can guess, the Mini isn’t as big as the CableBox. CableBox is pretty huge measuring at 15.6 inches long, 6 inches wide, and 5.3 inches tall. Without a doubt, it was able to hold my large power-strip and swarm of cables. My setup isn’t large, but I do have a lot of wires, and they all easily work with this box. It is like magic!

In conclusion, the CableBox is simple to setup and I highly recommend it to anyone who’s looking to get rid of the cable clutter on their desk. This is a fantastic way to hide all of your wires and make any desk look spectacular. $30 does seem pricy for a plastic box, however.

It is not every day you come across a watch that does more than telling time. The Mutewatch is a watch from the future. At first glance, it looks like a bracelet of rubber for $259 (pricy, but don’t let that fool you!). Simplying by a tap or flick it reveals to be much more.

Mutewatch is a clock + a  ”time management tool” by setting quick wrist-felt vibrating reminders during the course of the day. Normally, clocks have physical buttons but this one instead has a touch-sensitive section with LEDs, an ambient light sensor, a motion sensor, and a vibrating motor for alarms (very cool!).

While unboxing the Mutewatch, I came to realize that the rendering on the box were nearly identical to the watch itself (excellent). The watch is made from a flexipble    TPU with a soft-touch feel, and overall the watch feels great to wear. The watch is also supposed to be water resistant enough to survive washing dishes. Unfortunately, it is not serviceable if something happens to the watch inside. The watch is available in three colors (gray, white, and red). Personally, I like the gray one the best and the watch is sleek looking. The strap’s size only offers maximum length of just over 7-inches, which causes it to not fit larger wrists. Luckily, it would fit my wrist comfortably.

After I was done unboxing the Mutewatch, I had to charge it via USB. Folding back the strap reveals a hidden USB stick, which is also used for software updates. A 3 inch extension cable is also provided to charge the Mutewatch. Charging time is about 2 hours. Since the watch does a lot, I was surprised to find out that the watch lasted more than 5 days on a charge. Apparently, if the watch isn’t used for a week, it’ll go into a hibernation mode to preserve its battery.

One thing, which is very interesting, is that this watch is designed to be worn under the wrist. Most watches are worn above the wrist. However, since the placement of the screen is under the wrist, it did make it uncomfortable to type.

The touch panel on the Mutewatch uses nine capacitive panels and an ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts the intensity of its LEDs. It worked flawlessly for me. By flicking your wrist or a single tap brings up the display, allowing you to  wipe sequentially back and forth through its menus: the clock, up to five alarms, vibration length and a timer (up to an hour). Unfortunately, the clock only displays in military time. I hope in the near future there’s a way to change this via a software update.  Setting the time or an alarm is super simple and only required a few swipes. I was surprised by how intuitive the interface for a digital watch this was.

Mutewatch’s coolest feature is vibrations, which helps you manage time.  The SH-RT mode gives a quick  bzz bzz,  while its L0-NG mode gives out longer buzzes for up to a minute unless a sequence of LEDs is tapped to disable it. In addition, the watch senses how  movement is going on and automatically adjusts the strength of the vibes, which get stronger with less movement.

To conclude, the Mutewatch is a unique gadget that offers an interesting watch wearing experience. If you are willing to spend $259 for a watch, I’d highly recommend purchasing one.

Disclosure: The Mutewatch was provided free of charge via Mutewatch.

I have been bewitched by Apple products ever since I got my hands on my first iPod in college (a generous gift). My old friend, the iPod, has since been retired from my service, but still continues to bring music and entertainment to my dear ones. The time was ripe and on cue, I was bewitched by another Apple product. Enter the iPad. I moved from my initial skepticism (Oh, why do I even need something like that?) to pure delight when I got my iPad 2.

Having an iTouch may be enough for some folks,   but when you get used to it, suddenly, screen size does matter. On my iPad, I love reading e-books, watching videos, and even making notes on the larger, scrumptious 9.7-inch LED screen. The larger onscreen keyboard is a life saver for the days when my fingers feel especially pudgy. Having a front- and rear-facing camera is an added bonus for my many video chats. Still no flash though, sigh.

Here are my Top 10 Must-Have Free iPad Apps

1. Kindle Cloud Reader

Being a big reader, I experimented with lots of free e-book readers from iBooks to Kobo to Stanza (to name a few). What really sold me the Kindle Cloud Reader was its beautiful interface and the constant fresh fodder (e-books) from the Kindle store. You have to use a very basic shopping concept here, good deals are only found if you regularly check what is on the clearance rack. Every day, the store provides fodder of a different genre. The magic is that I can pick some really good stuff for free! I also do not miss having a book spine on the screen (as is seen in iBooks).

2. Terra

The default mobile Safari browser is not bad. I like my browser tabstoo much to settle though. Terra is simple to use and I can open as many tabs as I want. It is strong on privacy; I can browse without saving anything in History, and I can set a pass code for my History and Bookmarks. (The following image is from technologytosoftware.com).

3. Instagram

I have cheated a bit here. As of now, its interface still looks like that of a stretched iPod app (the fit-to-screen type). But, I (and another 10 million users) love the simplicity and pure ingenuity of  Instagram’s many fun filters. It’s easy to link to Facebook and Twitter too. This app is good news considering there aren’t any good photo-editing social networking apps.

4. Flipboard

This app creates a magazine from my numerous networking-site feeds. My updates from Google Reader, Twitter, Facebook, and many other sites, are much easier to manage as a result. I mainly use Flipboard to save all my favorite stories to be savored at my leisure. Flipboard also won Apple’s iPad App of the Year award.

5. Evernote

This popular app is a lifesaver. I make about a dozen notes a day on the Evernote cloud. It is easy to get used to it.

6. Dropbox

This is another amazing cloud app that offers 2 GB of free space to its users. I can’t imagine how I lived without it. I can save and manipulate my data, as if on my local desktop, using Dropbox.

7. Skype

The beauty of having a camera on the iPad is that I can make a video call on a full screen with Skype while catching up with other friends. Who in the world is not on Skype?

8. NPR

This news app beats NY Times, WSJ, and many others because it does not have the painful limited (or paid) viewing of its content. Its articles are open to everyone. I enjoy the latest NPR news broadcast, or simply listen to its playlist of songs.

9. Twitterrific

There are numerous Twitter apps. An ideal app, in my opinion, is one that I get the hang of in less than 10 seconds. Twitterrific fits the bill. It is simple and intuitive. It has not failed me yet, so I see no reason to jump to TweetDeck.

10. AccuWeather

I believe that it’s good to have more than one source to check my weather forecast. AccuWeather is an American company that provides (reasonably) accurate weather forecasting services worldwide. The interface is clean and presentable. No overload of information here. The hourly update on multiple locations is a nice touch.

Bonus Free iPad App

11. Talking Larry the Bird

In a nut shell, Larry repeats what you say to him in his own ducelent tones. Its too much fun for a human.

I’ve mentioned before that blogging can sometimes mean reading a lot of news. However, it’s always possible that you will miss a big story because you weren’t looking in the right place. That’s why I think it’s important to have more than one path to news. While my primary sources are always RSS feeds and direct press releases, I often find interesting topics for posts in other places.

One such place is MixTab, an app that was ported from iOS to the Mac. MixTab reminds me a lot of Flipboard, the extremely popular iPad app that lets you see news feeds, Twitter, and Facebook in a magazine style presentation. However, what makes MixTab pretty special is that it includes user generated tabs of news.

The user experience of MixTab is pretty nice. It has a nice looking interface with a few customization options. It gives you the option to control which tabs you subscribe to, and even create some of your own. It also supports the full screen mode introduced in OS X Lion, which is a nice touch.

The one real downside I see to the current revision of the MixTab interface is the way it handles full screen mode. While it will become an independent desktop like other apps, it doesn’t scale the content up. Instead, it simply makes the background behind the content bigger. That’s kind of upsetting, but not a huge deal.

The content that is presented in MixTab is out of their control. However, I wish they would work on a system to filter languages of posts and sources. I subscribe to several different Technology tabs, and many of them have international sources. However, I only speak English fluently, with some minor understanding of Spanish. I want to be able to control the language of my tabs.

Overall, I like MixTab. I feel like they have brought sometime good from iOS and made is work well on the Mac. If they fixed the two major issues I pointed out above, this would be a must-have app for me. As it stands, it’s only a nice addition to my arsenal. Sometimes, it takes more work than it should to use it effectively. I give it 3.5/5 stars. You can grab it for Free in the Mac App Store.

App: MixTab for Mac
Developer: MixTab Inc.
Price: Free
Score: 3.5/5 Stars

It was certainly a long time in coming. It was hyped to no end by Apple, who heralded it as a rethinking of the operating system. It takes the way we think about interacting with our machines and turns it inside out.Many have called it the death of the traditional computer. Most people just call it OS X Lion.

Lion was first announced to the world at WWDC in 2011. With it came the announcement of iCloud, Apple’s new cloud storage initiative, and iOS 5. While those two things won’t be available to the public until this fall, Lion launched on July 20. I upgraded that very day, and have spent the week exploring the newest version of Mac OS X.

With a piece of software this big, its hard to decide where to start a review. While the major pieces of the OS haven’t changed that much, Lion does introduce a number of new features. I am going to try and keep this review to something user friendly, avoiding most of the technical upgrades and changes. I will try to hit all of the features I think are real game changers.

The features I will be covering are:

• The User Interface
• Full Screen Apps
• Multi-Touch Gestures
• Launchpad
• Mission Control
• Auto-Save and Versions
• Resume
• Others, including Air Drop and Mail
• (The Lack of) Rosetta