I really don’t want a smartwatch. What I want is something that notifies me when a call or text message comes in. That way I’ll stop missing them because I can’t hear my phone ring or feel it vibrate. The Vybe, as described, is a simple rubberized wristband with an embedded (but removable) gizmo that …

The Livescribe 3 is a wireless ink pen that automatically syncs your handwritten notes with your iPhone or iPad. This is totally going on my holiday wish list. To look at the Livescribe 3, you’d hardly know it was a magic pen. Livescribe Livescribe pens have long offered the ability to “record” your notes, but early models required manual syncing …

One of my favorite products to come out of CES 2013 was the Nomad ChargeCard, a smartphone sync/charge cable barely larger than a credit card — and therefore able to ride around in your wallet. Nomad’s ChargeKey is its logical successor, a smartphone sync/charge cable that rides around on your keychain. I don’t need to hit CES 2014 to know …

Apple, you’ve got yourself some cojones. I mean, when the iPad Mini first debuted a year ago (almost to the day), most observers were surprised by the rather steep $329 starting price — especially considering the much cheaper small-tablet alternatives from the likes of Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Google. But, hey, people seemed to like the form factor. The …

I’m not sure what’s cooler about RingMeMaybe: the name or what it does. It’s a toss-up. RingMeMaybe generates disposable phone numbers right on your iPhone, the idea being to protect your privacy while still making yourself available by phone. Let’s say you’re selling something on Craigslist, which, as we all know, can bring out the nutjobs. Ideally, you’d rather not …

People who know me know I love a good game bundle, especially when it benefits charity. Everybody wins. The Humble Bundle folks have put together one of the better collections I’ve seen, with a focus on Android but plenty of goodness for desktop users as well. It’s the Humble Bundle with Android 7, and it comes with six seriously good …

Expandable storage has long been a prominent and coveted feature in Android devices, but some of them — the HTC One, Motorola Moto X, and Google Nexus 7, to name a few — don’t have it. However, as I noted recently in “How to use external storage to expand unexpandable Android devices,” you’re not totally out of luck. Thanks to …

A couple years back, NASA engineer Mark Rober turned a pair of iPads into a bloody incredible Halloween costume. The response was so positive, he built an entire product line around it: Digital Dudz. It works like this: you buy a special shirt or pouch, then insert your smartphone or tablet running the Digital Dudz app. The result is a …

The original Archos GamePad didn’t attract much attention, despite the fact that it offered what a lot of hardcore gamers seemingly wanted: built-in game controls in the form of dual control sticks and lots of buttons. It was, for all intents in purposes, an Android-powered Sony PSP, though with a bigger screen and a lot more games to choose from. …

Last month I wrote a preview of the Prong PocketPlug, an iPhone case that can plug right into a wall socket. In other words, no more carrying around an AC adapter and charge cable. I liked the idea, but had a few concerns. Now that I’ve had a few days to test-plug the PocketPlug, I can safely say that my …