Listening to a Tom Petty music marathon is great, but making it better in my world was hearing the legendary music on the Soul X-TRA over-the-ear wireless (Bluetooth) headphones.
The headphones smooth sound, comfort, and the sporty design were all much appreciated.
The sound is promoted as “Advanced HD drivers and circuitry design for a balanced bass and clear mids and highs,” which I found perfectly clear and low on bass. There isn’t a right or wrong since sound is a personal preference. I like a lot of bass, especially when listening to classic rock and roll, so I just added it on my own with an app, and the Soul X-TRAs sounded perfect.
I like the removable ear-pads, which can easily be washed, dried and put back on. I put them to test with a few bike rides and lawn work. After washing the ear pads, they looked as good as new.
If you use the headphones during darker times of the day, the dual mode LED lights on the outside of each ear will come in handy as an added safety feature. They can be kept in flashing or still modes.
The life of the rechargeable 320mAH Li-ion Polymer battery is another plus with 24-hours of playtime on a single charge, if you use the LED lights you’ll get about 8 hours. If you need a charge for immediate use, a 15-minute fast charge will give you approximately 150 minutes of use.
They are constructed of plastic, which gives them a lighter feel, and you can fold the X-TRA wireless headphones flat for easy storage in the included carrying case.
www.soulelectronics.com $149.99 with an all black finish with a choice of blue or black ear-pads and inside headband accents
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Moshi’s new Helios Lite designer laptop backpack is a perfect example of how you can carry your world with fashion and style.
The bag is designed with a slim profile and didn’t even bulk out when I had it stocked up. There’s a bunch of compartments and pockets to help keep everything organized with easy access.
I couldn’t transfer everything from my cinderblock backpack into the Helios Lite, and honestly, that’s a good thing. But I did get my 13-inch MacBook Air in a padded compartment, iPad, charging cables, papers, travel documents and a whole lot of other accessories (just not everything).
The Helios Lite ($119.95 ) 11.22-by-3.94-15.16-inches before you fill it and even after it’s stocked it kept an attractive slim design. A magnetic strap keeps it closed, and an exterior water-repellent finish is handy.
The bag, part of Moshi’s 2017 A/W bag collection, was designed with colors and fabric details chosen to add texture and character to each bag. Once you see the Helios Lite, you’ll see they were successful in this goal.
Along with the Helio’s Lite, the A/W line includes the Urbana briefcase and the Costa travel satchel in two new colors — Sandstone Beige and Slate Black earth — along with sky blue, and titanium gray.
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August Home, one of the premier makers and designers of smart home automation products and a personal favorite has announced three new products, which feature DoorSense.
The company touts this as the first intelligent, integrated sensor to tell users if their door is open or properly closed. The new feature in the new August Smart Lock Pro ($279), August Smart Lock ($149), and August Doorbell Cam Pro ($199).
All of these smart home products are designed to allow you to monitor and control your doors and locks from anywhere with a smartphone or tablet.
I haven’t tried these products, but in the past I found August products to be nothing short of perfect and I’m confident these will be the same.
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Contact Gregg Ellman at greggellman@mac.com. Follow him on Twitter: @greggellman
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