Yes, I managed to find another somewhat old hard-drive in a box that I packed almost a year or so ago and I have no idea what contents are on it.. this had me want to zip down to my local computer store to buy an external hard-drive enclosure… wait.. such stores don’t exist anymore! I miss Circuit City! I called up Office Depot/Max but they do not carry such items in stock and unfortunately I am no where near to a Fries. So now I have to buy it online and wait. Great.

I bought myself the Rosewill METAS external hard-drive enclosure and am overall OK with it. There are some aspects/features I wish it had.. such as an LED light to indicate when and if the attached Hard drive was working, and I wish it had a power switch on the front. If I wanted to place this nondescript black/silver box somewhere out of the way, then I’d like to not have to constantly reach around it to turn it on and off.

On to the Pros.. I really enjoyed how easy it was to literally slide the hard-drive in and out of the enclosure, OK there are two screws you will have to manage (which affixes the drive to the tray/sled) but that’s simple. It would be nice if Rosewill sold additional trays so that you could easily swap out other hard-drives with them already attached that would make it even more efficient (HINT HINT Rosewill!!) The other aspect which I appreciated was that it has both USB 3.0 and eSATA ports, and it has a fully adjustable fan speed switch!. The fan can be pretty loud but no one likes machinery operating at above normal temperatures. The enclosure is also somewhat heavy/sturdy which makes placing it horizontally or vertically more comforting (it wont tip that easily).

I managed to pay just under $40 (shipping included) and it recognized my hard-drive easily and I had a pleasant smile on my face when I saw all the old pictures/files on my working hard-drive. Great job Rosewill!

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Ok, so I should state that the device has a 10:1 spot-to-distance ratio. The ratio means that from 10 feet away you are measuring the average temperature over a square foot of area., so the closer you are the more focused and accurate of a temperature reading will be taken.

I decided to make a list of why one would need such a device:

• Check the oven temperature calibration
• Check for abnormally hot spots on stereo, TV, etc electronics items, and lighting fixtures
• Check the refrigerator and freezer compartments for the right temperature
• Look for hot or cold spots on the wall due to lack of insulation.
• Take readings all along the seams of your kitchen door to identify the drafty sections
• Check your AC vents to make sure your system is pumping out air at the appropriate temperature,
• Check the efficiency of your skylight windows to make sure they are still in good condition.

There are countless other times when you need to take an accurate temperature reading and this device allows you to do it easily and at a really great price too.The Ryobi Tek4 Infrared thermometer is very rugged and solid built. The laser pointer makes it easy to aim and as mentioned in my earlier post about another Ryobi product (the Tek4 Utility LED Light) the rechargeable Tek4 battery lasts a long time and works with all my other Tek4 tools

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I’m at Office Depot and trying to figure out how to use my $40 gift card when I saw these little speakers all over the display ends of the ‘Techie’ isle. I was on the fence about the JAM HMDX speaker, I was quite skeptical about the quality of sound this could produce but then I realized the speakers on my laptop are downright atrocious so they were worth a shot.

I successfully connected my laptop with the speaker. Be warned that you need great eyesight and/or a strong magnifying glass to read the instructions on the leaflet that comes with the speaker, so jump on YouTube and search for an instructional video on there instead. So the speaker itself, is no bigger than my fist and the sound that comes out of it is big! I had it up and running in less than a couple of minutes and listened to music for probably an hour seeing how it handled different styles. No crackling, bass buzz, etc. For a small and relatively cheap Bluetooth speaker, I am very impressed.

I enjoyed the fact that I was no longer relying on my laptop’s speakers (terrible) and because of the speaker’s somewhat smaller footprint, I even had the ability to grab it to take with me when taking a shower (to put on the counter, not literally in the shower – it is NOT waterproof) – the shower was next door to my office (Bluetooth limitations in distance) but the speaker’s battery life is another major limitation.

Battery barely lasts 3-4 hours when using wireless. Makes it pretty much worthless for camping and other outdoor activities that last more than a few hours. The cord provided is only about 6 inches long….BUT…its your standard Micro USB Charger (i.e. android type charger) so you should have no issues finding cheaper longer replacement Micro USB cords. I tend to have it constantly plugged in for power and so that when I do rarely take it with me – it’s got at least a couple of hours run time.

A decent product – definitely a great stocking stuffer or gift to give to anyone in need of a better speaker if they currently use their laptop and are used to hearing muffled audio.. this would brighten their day and at the perfect price point. One caution…the price varies DAILY on Amazon for these! And you will find that different colors have different prices, again the costs vary daily. So check each color carefully before ordering

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Ryobi makes all kinds of fun tooling accessories, I have the infrared thermometer and now this, the Tek4 Utility Light. The light has 6 LEDs with a 90 degree rotating dial on the end to turn the light, which I found very handy, being as it is more like a spotlight than a floodlight. The magnet works great on a flat metal surface, but not so well on anything else (e.g. the round tubular metal of a step stool). Being the clumsy fella, I have dropped, kicked and left this light in some pretty intense environments and it has always been reliable. . The Ryobi Tek4 Utility Light uses the rechargeable TEK4 battery or it has an insert that takes 3 AAA batteries. (Batteries included). Despite my typical opinion to not veer towards proprietary products – I opted for purchasing the TEk4 battery (it just looked like it could pack a lot of charge), charged it up once and it’s been a good half year and it still hasnt run out of juice!

Definitely one of those items that will come in handy on camping trips, and various handyman jobs around the house. I’ve also noticed that this can dip down to an amazing price point of around $15 – so wait til that happens before your purchase!

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I was so excited to use this product… then I did. Let me start off with the good. The 3.5″ monitor itself is fine, the picture quality is decent and shows the video in full color when capable (when enough ambient light is available). It does do well in darker environments and the monitor does allow you to easily pan/tilt and zoom pretty nicely. There’s also a unique talk-back option that offers the ability to speak to baby via the handheld monitor and be heard through the camera, as well as being able to hear anything through the camera on the monitor. Oh, and a room temperature monitor is also present on-screen to gauge the environment. When I pulled it out of the box, I had to synch the monitor to the camera which took me almost half an hour and that was somewhat decent since I hardly ever read manuals. Now, if that’s all you are interested in doing with this product then you are good.. dont read any further!

Here’s where I started to dislike the product. The product describes itself as an ‘Internet Viewing System’ with Summer having it’s own mobile App (downloadable though Google Play) available for just that purpose. Well, I could never get the Summer App to work on my android phone. The camera connection constantly failed on it and provided no guidance in terms of troubleshooting which renders the ‘Internet’ aspect of this product monitor simply garbage for me. Yes, ideally I would like to be far away from the place I’m monitoring and not just limited to be in the next room. Reading the support forums I found that one could attach a secondary monitor to the camera – somewhat interesting option – but I’m simply reluctant on messing with it since it’s working so well as is and there seems to be quite a few negative responses from folks describing the exact same issue with the Mobile App I experienced.  I also

Bottom Line: If you’re buying this for the Internet capability, buy something else. If you are going to only use the provided monitor then you are all set.

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