Bob and Brad make excellent devices. Whether it’s a massage gun, an eye massager, a weighted heated blanket, or anything else that accelerates recovery and improves health, their products are top-notch. And while they’re not exactly reinventing the wheel with the Bob and Brad’s Q2 Ultra Massage Gun, it has the refinement and little touches that make it stand out in a crowded market.
I love being cold. Maybe I’m exceedingly warm-blooded, my partial werewolf genetics have kicked in, or I’m simply a weirdo, but I keep my house at a brisk 67 degrees year-round. If anyone complains, I have plenty of hoodies and sweaters ready. Unfortunately, my townhouse traps heat upstairs. No matter how low I set the AC, my bedroom still runs hot. Let’s see whether the ZAFRO Portable Air Conditioner can finally cool it down.
Are you hydrated enough? There’s a good chance you paused before answering that, and you tried to think back to when you last drank some water. Or maybe you went with the tried and true solution of guessing your hydration level based on the color of your pee. But that’s the low-tech solution. The truly accurate and connected one is to use the Vivoo Smart Toilet to chart your ongoing hydration needs!
Many options exist to quantify your health. Apps and wearables can track your sleep, dissect your diet, count your steps, and generally read the tea leaves on whether you’re optimizing your fitness and health. The hard part is that fitness devices are often one-size-fits-all, and it can be tough to tell whether a running watch will help with weightlifting or whether your step counter is properly tracking your heart rate. Luna Band takes a different approach, with LifeOS customizing the experience to each person’s needs, body, and goals.
The idea of a universal translator has been a staple of science fiction since the beginning of storytelling. Being able to communicate seamlessly is how the world of Star Trek imagines their utopia, and of course tiny fish in people’s ears are what helps you when you’re hitchhiking across the galaxy. Thankfully (for most people), the solution to connecting across language barriers is not from fish, but it is from headsets like Timekettle W4 Plus AI. Much smoother and less invasive!
There’s a LOT of choices out there in earbuds. Especially if you’re trying not to blow the bank while also balancing features and style. JLab has long taken the approach that you don’t need to drop hundreds to have a good listening experience, and their newest additions to the lineup prove you don’t have to give up any bells and whistles to save some cash!
Did you know AI is the next big thing in computing? If you rolled your eyes and almost clicked away, just hold off one second, because BVIO has a new twist on AI with the Violoop. Instead of dispatching all your AI needs to the cloud, the Violoop is effectively a local AI you plug into your computer, but with all the assistance you’ve come to expect from artificial intelligence.
One of Roku’s biggest strengths is its consistently user-friendly experience. Even if you’ve never encountered the Roku interface before, you can be up and streaming right away. They’ve extended this same philosophy as they’ve expanded into televisions. Now they’re adding in OLED with their new Roku Pro Series OLED and Pro Series LX OLED TVs!
The term Smart Home usually evokes imagery like doors that unlock by themselves, thermostats that adjust to the weather forecast, and lights that turn your whole home into a mood ring. But there’s another way to add smarts to your home that’s more than flashy tricks, and that’s better power management. Maybe not as exciting to your guests, but definitely more exciting to your budget. MOVA is bringing new AI intelligence to solar batteries and power with their LumeGret A2000 and A4000 solar systems.
You probably know Ohsnap as the folks behind the incredibly thin Snap Grip, or, if you like mobile gaming, you may be familiar with their MCON magnetic gaming controllers. When they see the back of a phone, they see opportunity, and their latest way to maximize that real estate is their new modular Wallet 2, launching on Kickstarter today! We’re all familiar with the “usual” MagSafe wallet setup. Some sort of pouch or small snap-on compartment that holds 2-3 cards. And if you’re being really spicy, maybe a money clip. Ohsnap’s take is to tackle the idea that everyone’s needs and…
I’ve done a lot of different strength training over the years. Whether it’s powerlifting, climbing, rowing, kettlebells, or dumbbells, you will stall out if your grip isn’t up to the task. Your hands contain 34 muscles, and if they’re not up to the task, you’ll find yourself failing your lifts. Versa Gripps are designed to give your grip an assist that helps you push your strength training to the next level, and we had the chance to put the Versa Gripps Pro through some workouts to test those claims truly.
Electric scooters are just plain fun. There’s something about zipping around on a motorized scooter that makes you feel like a kid again. The funny part about that is, normally you wouldn’t stick a kid on an e-scooter…unless they’re part of the new Segway line of kid-friendly e-scooters! After all, start them young, and they’ll be zipping the streets of Brooklyn on Segways well into their 20s!
I am not a fan of AI in everything. It has its place, but I don’t need AI to respond to a friend’s Instagram post or to remind me how to write a thank-you note, and I generally really hate how every Google search gets badly regurgitated into a Gemini summary before I can get to any real results. I honestly would have listed Google’s search AI as my biggest AI annoyance until it saved me from an immense amount of frustration last night.
It’s safe to say that smart glasses are gaining momentum. We’re constantly looking for ways to refine the noise around us into something usable, and the allure of distilling all that into something you can easily see in front of you is irresistible. Halliday has refined their vision with the G2 AI glasses, their second round of smart glasses, and they think they’ve cracked the code to make the experience smarter and smoother than ever!
I am a firm believer that exercise is a cornerstone of mental health. We are built to move our bodies one way or another. You don’t have to head out for 10-mile runs every day, but even yoga or stretching can help clear the detritus from your mind. So I was super excited to check out the Brain-Body Therapy App, which aims to combine basic therapy with exercise. Is it the path to a clearer mind and healthier body?
I recently streamlined my computer setup down to a Mac mini and a MacBook Neo. The Mini is easy, as it just sits on my desk, but the Neo is now my “toss it in my bag and off we go” device. And now, thanks to Urban Armor Gear (UAG), I can keep my Neo protected AND stylish with their new shells and sleeve.
If there’s one constant in the world of fitness gadgets, it’s that someone is always offering you optimizations. It can be as simple as something like fat grips to work your forearms while you lift, or as complex as connected wearables and heart rate monitors designed to keep your workout in a precise effort zone. Sometimes these are genuinely great improvements, and sometimes they’re just window dressing. We were offered the chance to try the PEPPER EMS Suit, which leverages electromagnetic stimulation to maximize your workout in less time. Is it a winner? Let’s check it out!
My daily phone is an iPhone Air. I love it, but the one area where it falls short is the camera, which is not as powerful as the ones found on more flagship-level devices. So I am always open to having a second phone around that can double as a dedicated photography tool. The new Xiaomi 17T makes a very strong case for itself when it comes to the fusion of smartphone utility and seriously impressive cameras.
“I can’t today, I have to wait for the cable man” is one of those phrases that creates immediate sympathetic dread. It’s as much a pop culture trope as it is a real inconvenience. But Xfinity, in its quest to prove the cable company isn’t actually out to get you, is rolling out a way to deliver faster internet on your schedule. Their new same-day Gateway delivery service means you can sign up for internet in the morning and have yourself up and running and down a TikTok rabbit hole before dinner.
I’ve reviewed a lot of fitness devices over the years, but the Crossrope Jump Rope set is one I use at least weekly. They’re well built and amazing for high-intensity interval workouts and other short cardio bursts. The good folks at Crossrope know that working out is more comfortable if you’ve got the right surface under your feet, and so to go along with all the jumping, they gave us the chance to review their Splash Jump Rope Mat!
If you’re an avid reader, you probably track what you’ve been reading. If you like the idea of a website where you can share reviews and track your reading, you’re probably familiar with Goodreads, especially since it was acquired by Amazon and integrates with Kindle. But for a number of reasons, from geographical to philosophical, not everyone uses Amazon for their eBook consumption. Kobo is the clear competitor, and now they’re partnering with Goodreads biggest competitor, Storygraph!