by Christopher Paul on September 17, 2012 The LIFX is a Wi-Fi enabled, programable LED lightbulb that looks really cool on paper. I'm tempted to back this just to get my hands on some for my apartment. According to the Kickstarter page, you'll be able to program the light's color, synchronize that color to your music, adjust wake and dim times, turn on when you come home (like Nest's Away feature), and send notifications to Twitter, Facebook, and your mobile phone. Of course, there's an SDK.
Think about that for a minute…
A lightbulb has an SDK.
I'm really excited about that idea and the only question I have is how many should I pre-order.
via Uncrate
by Christopher Paul on September 17, 2012 Dan Frakes, with some great observations from his readers, writes about Lightning cables and the adapters Apple's new (30-pin and micro USB) being made available by Apple:
Astute readers may have noticed that the Lightning connector does not support analog audio-out, but the 30-pin adapters do. That's because hidden away inside each 30-pin adapter is a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) that converts the Lightning connector's digital audio signal to an analog version. (The inclusion of a DAC explains at least part of the price of the adapters.)
While I understand why people would be upset at having to buy adapters and potentially experiencing lost functionality, over time, this is only going to be a good thing. This is one of the changes I'm most looking forward to with the iPhone 5.
via DF
by Christopher Paul on September 16, 2012 MacRumors reporting on the iPhone 5’s Geekbench benchmarking results:
The total Geekbench 2 score comes in at 1601. Poole notes that the average score for the iPhone 4S is 629 and the average score for the iPad 3 is 766. A comparison chart of previous iOS devices can be viewed at Geekbench. The numbers seem to validate Apple’s claim that the A6 processor is twice as fast as the A5 and any previous iOS device. This one score also places the iPhone 5 ahead of the average scores of all Android phones on Geekbench.
I know benchmarks don’t mean much but I do like to see the change from model to model or from one version on an OS to another. I wouldn’t compare iOS to Android even though, clearly, MacRumors wanted to highlight that. Still, twice the speed is impressive.
by Christopher Paul on September 14, 2012 
Having just ordered an iPhone 5, you’d think I wouldn’t want another cell phone.
Wrong.
The appeal of the SpareOne is pretty strong. It’s a very bare bones mobile phone that is meant to be used in an emergency – when the loss of power means no way to charge a traditional cell phone. It runs off a single AA battery. It supports a single ‘Emergency Dial’ button and has nine programable preset buttons – just like the old cell phones from 20 years ago.
Truthfully, I can see this being a great travel phone, too. At $60 it’s damn cheap and small/light enough to keep close just in case. Unfortunately, there are two versions to consider: an American compatible phone and a global one. If you plan on traveling internationally, be sure to get the one that works everywhere but in the US.
by Christopher Paul on September 14, 2012