By Gregg Ellman
Tribune News Service
Sometimes I find a gadget that I know is a winner before I even get my hands on it. That’s the case with the VisionTek Wallet Drive, designed for ultra-portable convenience and ease of use.
It’s so clever, I found myself saying to someone “Hey, check out this really cool hard drive enclosure.”
The name, VisionTek Wallet Drive Portable USB 3.0 2.5-inch Drive Leather Enclosure, tells you a little more about the case.
It’s the ultimate in plug-and-play; take any 2.5-inch hard drive and snap it into the enclosure; no screws or tools needed. Then plug the 7-inch attached USB (3.0/2.0) cable into you computer (Mac or PC) or whatever device you want to use with it.
It’s so simple, even non-tech-heads can tell their friends they put a hard drive together on their own.
The enclosure is bus-powered so you won’t need a separate power supply and with the easy snap-in connection you can swap hard drives in and out in seconds; just make sure the USB cable isn’t connected to a computer while swapping them in and out.
Details: www.visiontek.com, $19.99
Portable solar power bank
I first saw a demonstration of the Helios Smart portable solar power bank at the Consumer Electronic Show in January and the 5000mAh portable battery is now available for purchase.
You’ll see it was well worth the wait since you can charge your portable electronic gadgets on-the-go while the battery gets its own charge from Mother Nature’s ball of fire in the sky.
With a 4.5-hour charge from the sun, you’ll get enough power for a few charges on your device, which obviously depends on what you’re charging.
A nice feature is a pair of USB ports (1.0 and 2.1Amp) built into the side for charging a pair of devices simultaneously, which obviously will drain the battery a little faster.
The battery measures 5.1-by-3.15-inches by 0.79-inches when closed and weighs just 0.63 lb., making it ideal for traveling and outdoor activities.
For those who are interested in the solar specifics, it has a 4.86 W tri-fold solar array.
Details: www.solpro.com, $119
Bluetooth Megaboom
The sound from the UE Megaboom Bluetooth speaker is so amazing you’ll find it hard to believe that it comes from a wireless device. The bass is incredible, smooth and not head-banging. It’s just the right amount to enhance the sound.
It’s waterproof (IPX7 certified) and the outside has a stain-resistant acoustic skin so seaweed won’t be a problem.
The baby brother UE Boom and the new Megaboom speakers can be paired for a stereo sound using the Android and iOS free UE apps. They feature a 100-foot range Bluetooth and an internal 20-hour rechargeable battery life.
It’s built like a rounded cylinder with a 3.5-inch diameter and is just short of 9 inches tall with a speaker grill surrounding the outside.
There’s a 3.5 mm port for connecting any media device and a microUSB port for charging. When these are exposed, the speaker is not waterproof.
Details: www.Logitech.com, $299
Clean glasses
The latest product from LensPen, one of my personal favorite companies known for camera sensor cleaning, is the Peeps.
It’s an all-in-one cleaner for eyeglasses and sunglasses, which you might not think is useful, but for someone like me, who wears glasses, you’ll love it after using it just once.
In a two-step process, you first clean your lenses with the retractable goat-hair brush. I’m far from an expert on goats but it’s really just that and works great.
It removes anything loose on your specs’ surface; slide the arms out from the cleaner for the next step and use the cleaning tips in a circular motion to clean and shine the lenses and you’re done.
The tips contain a carbon cleaning compound that is recharged when you slide them back into the holder, up to 500 times.
Details: www.lenspen.com, $14.95
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