By Gregg Ellman
McClatchy-Tribune
Sleek shine tracks your physical activity
Shine’s new activity monitor is a wearable device that is as accurate as can be for tracking activity, sleep and calories.
It looks cool and can be worn several ways; it has a magnetic clip to attach to your shoe or clothing, which I think will be the most popular.
Other options include a sportband that makes it look like a wristwatch.
The other option is to wear it as a necklace, which doesn’t give it the appearance of an activity monitor since it’s designed to look sleek and contemporary.
I gave my wife the task of testing it in her active lifestyle, which includes teaching high school photography full-time, freelance photography and a trip to the gym four or five times a week.
She mainly used the device attached to her shoe or with the sportband on her wrist.
The device works with the Shine app (iOS and Android). Just set your height, weight and desired activity level and it then calculates your points.
Within the app you tap on the points to see steps taken, calories burned throughout the day and miles walked.
She compared the amount of calories burned and miles walked to what her treadmill said and found it was accurate. The calories burned is based on your basal metabolic rate plus your activity so the Shine will tell you the total number of calories you burn in a day, not just the activities calories.
It monitors your sleep as well and you can connect online through the app with others using the device.
After wearing the sportband, she said it felt weird to have two watches on one arm and looked silly.
It does have a way to tell time but you really have to learn how to access this function.
You have to tap the device to see the time blink on the LED’s so that would take a little more time for me to get used to.
One thing she thought would be a cool addition to the Shine would be if it could track calorie consumption. If this app allowed you to enter what you ate and it calculated the calories then that would be amazing.
Details: The Shine is $119.95, Necklace or leather bands are $49.95 each; www.misfitwearables.com
‘Handy’ app offers advanced photo editing
I also got her to try the Handy Photo 2.0 app by ADVA Soft, which is an all-encompassing photo editing app for iOS and Android handheld devices.
Handy Photo has more features than most photo apps out there. It edits images up to 36 megapixel and supports JPG and RAW file formats.
The interface it easy to use. Either take or open a photo from your camera roll and tap in the upper right corner of your screen for the different editing functions. Tone and color, retouch, clone stamp, move me, filers, textures, magic crop and frames are your options.
Each function has additional options once you click on it.
The “move me” function has tools much like professional editing tools, which allow you to select one part of a photo and move it within the photo or even to another photo.
It lets you add layers and manipulate those layers, which is really sophisticated for an app. While it’s not Photoshop, it does have more advanced features that photo enthusiasts look for in an editing app.
Details: Available at iTunes and Google Play stores $1.99; adva-soft.com
Rugged battery offers extra juice, on the go
New Trent’s rugged PowerPak Ultra is a portable USB battery designed to charge portable devices in the most extreme environments.
Instead of using the battery in my boring day-to-day activities, I gave the battery to a good friend of mine who is a photojournalist and assigned to cover the recent winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
Right from the start the battery came in handy, especially during his 30-plus hours of travel to Russia along with his return to Cincinnati.
His first assignment was shooting the opening ceremony fireworks from the roof of the figure skating venue on a cold damp night.
During that night he had an Android phone plugged into the Powerpak Ultra for almost three hours to transmit photos to his picture agency for worldwide distribution.
Barely one bar of power on the battery was used that night and he was able to use the battery multiple times after the opening night before a charge to the battery itself was needed.
He found the ruggedness of the exterior gave him the confidence to use it on any assignment during the games without the fear of it breaking.
After three weeks of constant use, both he and the battery were more than ready to come back home.
The PowerPak Ultra’s rugged exterior allows it to survive most drops and it can be temporarily submerged in water for up to 30 minutes. Beware that the battery is waterproof only when the USB ports are closed and not in use and it’s always a good thing to keep portable electronic gadgets away from water.
A pair of USB ports can be used simultaneously to charge tablets, smartphones or just about any other portable, USB-charging gadget.
The PowerPak Ultra is available in gray or orange and measures 5.6 by 3.1 by 1.1 inches and weighs 13 ounces.
Details: $69.95; www.newtrent.com
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