Gadgets

Piolo. The little stand for iPhone 4

August 1, 2011 10:30 by Marc in Gadgets, iPhone

A few weeks ago I came across a cool little accessory for the iPhone called the Piolo. Esentailly it is a little stand for your iPhone which make it easier to stand it up or on it’s side. This is perfect for if you are using your iPhone for a recipe or Facetime or something along that lines where you need to constantly be holding your iPhone.

The price of the Piolo is £4.00 (and 80p for postage) which works out to about R50, which isn’t to bad at all. I have been using mine on my desk so I can see whats happening on it most of the time. The Piolo comes in a varierty of 5 different colours. If you keen on getting yourself one, I recommend heading over to their site - http://thepiolo.com/ and picking up one. Highly recommended :)

Cool Spy Cam keyring gadget

March 29, 2011 09:28 by Marc in Gadgets, Tech News

I came across this awesome little gadget the other day. It is a spy cam on a keyring, which looks like a random car or house remote. The cam records video at a resolution of 720 x 480 at 30fps. The sound also picks up pretty good as well. The video is recorded to a Micro SD card (not included), and can also take still images at a resolution of 1280 x 1024.

The cool thing about this gadget is that, it is always with you, and you can use it anywhere. The other day, I went for a ride on my Mountain bike, and I taped it to the front of the bike, and recorded some of my ride. I have also seen guys use it on their cars & motorbikes as well. The cam is also pretty simple to use, and takes 1 button to start recording, and no one will be any the wiser. You can also use the spycam as a webcam on any computer as well !! (info below)

There are two function buttons. The one closest to the camera hole is designated REC. The other one is inboard of the REC button and designated ON/OFF.

The device has a built-in rechargeable battery that needs to be fully charged when the device is first used.
Insert a MicroSD card before using the device.
Press and hold the ON/OFF button (bottom button) to turn on the device. The Orange LED will turn on, which means the device is in STANDBY mode.
Press and hold REC (top button) to start recording video. The orange LED will blink fast three times, then turn off. This means that during video recording, the LED is not lit, which makes it less likely to be spotted.
Press REC to pause video recording and save the recording to that point. The LED will turn on. The device is now in STANDBY mode. In STANDBY mode, press REC to take a still image. To continue recording, press and hold REC.
To record a still image: Turn on the device by pressing and holding ON/OFF to enter STANDBY mode. The LED will turn on. Press REC to record a single still image. The LED will flash. Press REC for another image.
To set the date/time of the device, which is used to timestamp media recordings, create a text file in the root of the MicroSD card with a file name of TAG.TXT. Open the file and add the following three lines: [date] 2011/03/29 03:45:00 Replace the date and time above with the values you want. Save the file. Turn the device off, then back on to reset the clock based on the text file.
To turn off the device, press and hold ON/OFF until the LED goes out.
The device powers off by itself after a period of inactivity.
Use the provided USB cable to connect the device to your computer. You will now be able to see the recorded files on your device, which you can view. Video files are saved in a .avi format
If the device stops functioning, use the reset button to reset the device. The reset button is recessed inside the small hole between the MicroSD card and the USB port
For clearer instructions, you can check out this very cool instruction sheet (http://iguy.me/caminstructions)
You can also use the spycam as a webcam (Windows). To do this, while your cam is plugged into your PC, press & hold in the “capture” button. Then press and hold the “power” button in for 3 seconds. Release the Power button, and then release the capture button. This should install device drivers, and you can use the cam as a webcam.
I came across a very cool WINDOWS app, which sets the time for you automatically. You can download it here (http://iguy.me/camtimesetter) . Once you have the app open, plug in the cam, and it should set the correct time on the device

This video gives you an idea of what the spy cam is all about. I haven’t managed to upload any of my videos yet, but as soon as I do, will update the post with it.

Here is a video from @zayinkrige who bought one of the previous batch, and attached it to his remote control plane. Awesome footage !!

I managed to order a bulk order of these awesome spy cams, and am selling them, to anyone is who is keen for this awesome gadget. The prices are as follows:

Spy Cam Keyring : R150 ($27 if paying by PayPal)

Micro SD card 4GB : R85 ($17 if paying by PayPal).

Shipping – Standard Shipping with tracking number – R50

Shipping – Overnight Express (to counter) – R90

If you are keen to try out this awesome little gadget, you can drop me an email on marc@iguy.co.za. I have to admit, this is a really cool gadget, and have had loads of fun with it.