Looxcie HD review

Wearable technology is growing rapidly as we move into a life full of smart devices. We are trying to simplify our lives and improve our performance with these products, but we are not willing to become cyborgs. This is why it is important for technology to also improve our human side. We can say a device is successful (in this aspect) when it can give us experiences that focus on what we can do, instead of what the gadget can do for us. The Looxcie HD Explore is one of these devices.

I had a chance to review the Looxcie 2 in the past, which brought great features and functionality but had its defects. It doubled as a bluetooth headset, making you more productive, but its camera and companion apps also allowed us to record and share video on the go. It was portable, sleek and simple, but many complained about the lack of HD video recording capabilities.

The Looxcie HD Explore moves into the portable video camera market by bringing us full HD videos while sacrificing bluetooth capabilities. It is not a replacement to the Looxcie 2, but an enticing option for another market… a competitor to wearable cameras like the smart card.

The Looxcie HD Explore is not only a better camera for sports and personal events, but it has also been designed to survive. While we won’t say it is a “rugged” device, it is night and day compared to the Looxcie 2. The Explore features a much more solid build quality, built with rubber, durable plastic and what looks like some form of metal.

Everything feels very sturdy and in place. I never felt like it was going to break on me or like I was being overly rough with it. The device does have a bit of ruggedness to it – Looxcie is calling it “weather-resistant”. A waterproof case is said to be coming, though, making this a great wearable camera for adventure-seekers.

Two buttons are placed on the top of the device, one for initiating/stopping a recording and one for creating Instant Clips (30-second videos meant for quick sharing). These buttons feel pretty solid, but I do wish they provided more feedback.

It’s hard to tell if one has really pressed the buttons, which usually results in one turning the camera around to see if the red light between the lens and the microphone is lit (it indicates the camera is recording). This results in all your videos starting with your face!

The power switch and the microUSB port are placed in the back, covered by a rubber layer that comes completely off. The battery covers the whole side and is made of a rubberized material. It fits very tight into place, and a small latch keeps the battery solidly in place. I am more than sure the battery will never come out when in use, which is always a plus.

Below the battery you can also find a microSD card slot. The fact that it is housed inside keeps it very safe… again, that’s very convenient for active users. The unit accepts cards as low as class 4 and with a capacity as high as 64 GB. No card is included and the device has no internal storage, so make sure to keep that in mind and have one ready.

I find the conjunction of the camera’s design and its new accessories very convenient. In a sense, the camera is a standalone block. If you want to wear it, it has to be put in its casing, which then gets installed in different accessories. The camera and its adapter get “docked” into accessories like the helmet mount, ball cap clip, handlebar mount and the windshield mount (some of these are included with the Looxcie HD Explore package).

Of course, the device comes with a microUSB port you can use for charging and transferring files. The Looxcie HD’s most important features are its smartphone controls, though. The Looxcie HD uses WiFi to connect to smartphones, unlike the Looxcie 2, which used bluetooth. This makes the connection much faster and reliable, even if it may use more battery.

One can simply connect to the camera via WiFi, but this will force you to stay out of your regular WiFi connection (which is no huge problem considering you probably won’t be using this at home). Don’t worry, the app allows you to keep your smartphone’s data connection while you use the WiFi with the camera, so you won’t be left stranded out there.

There is a bit of a delay when you start the camera. It seems like it stutters for a couple seconds before it starts recording. This can be noticed after the video is reviewed – the video will not start exactly where you thought it would. Also, it can be noticed when using the live view in the Looxcie app. It is definitely an issue, but one can simply anticipate it. All in all, I wouldn’t say it’s a deal breaker.

After looking at the test footage, we can see the video quality is still not quite up-to-par with the competition. The picture can be a bit grainy and the colors don’t pop as much (especially during low-light conditions), but we must also realize what separates the Looxcie HD from cameras like GoPro’s. It is meant to be a plastic card.

While the Looxcie 2 used multiple apps, the company has managed to put it all into a single app for the Looxcie HD. The app is rather simple and straight-forward. One can easily record, stream or buffer with the Looxcie HD. Also, you can even stream to your Facebook account and you don’t even need a Looxcie camera to do this. Your device’s cameras can be used to stream via the Looxcie app, so you can go ahead and use it even if you don’t have your Looxcie HD around (or if you don’t plan on buying one at all).

One can also watch videos other users have made public, or check the footage you have in the cloud. Watching the video on your Looxcie HD’s microSD card is currently not possible, but the section is in the app and the feature should be coming in a future update. This would probably be my biggest gripe about the app, but according to the Looxcie team an update is coming “within a couple weeks”. Let’s hope the ability to watch content saved in the camera is included.

Reading Community Players serves up a delightful treat

The Brewster sisters are back and up to their gentile version of murder in Reading Community Players current production of the always delightful classic comedy “Arsenic and Old Lace.” The play may have been around since 1939, but the characters and dialogue are still very funny and refreshingly family-friendly – are rare treat in today’s entertainment world.

Peopled with some of the most iconic characters in theater, “Arsenic and Old Lace” is the story of a unique family, the Brewsters, who have family traditions that include plastic card. Most character actors would “kill” to play Abby or Martha Brewster and their brother Teddy, who thinks he is Teddy Roosevelt.

Landing these coveted roles are local veteran actors Diann Stewart as Abby and Ruth Martelli as Martha and Randy Miller as Teddy. The three are a joy to watch as they bring these beloved characters to life. Stewart and Martelli are perfect as the sweet spinsters whose special elderberry wine (laced with arsenic, strychnine and “just a pinch” of cyanide) has resulted in the demise of numerous lonely old gentleman. There is sibling synchronicity with these two. Put them on stage together and you are guaranteed to laugh.

Miller seems to have been born to play Teddy with his charging up the stairs that he believes to be San Juan Hill and carrying bodies to the basement where he is “digging the Panama Canal.” More guaranteed laughter.

Kevin Schanely plays their charming nephew Mortimer, who is the only normal one of the Brewsters, although he is a theater critic who may have been responsible for the demise for some plays with his scathing reviews. Schanely, a Pottstown resident, has returned to RCP after a 17-year hiatus and his return is triumphant, delivering a perfectly nuanced performance in the role made famous by Cary Grant in the film of the same name.

Adding a bit of romance to the show is Julia Hager as Mortimer’s girlfriend, Elaine. The two have a nice chemistry and their normalcy balances out the otherwise over-the-top characters.

Rounding out the family circle is Jonathan Brewster, another brother with a sinister bent, who has returned after a long absence to hide out from the law. Benjamin Ruth takes on this delightfully dark role and makes the most of it.

Samsung calls the Galaxy S 4 a “life companion” and part of the reason is a new S Health application. It’s software that tracks your exercise, weight, health goals and nutritional habits. Samsung will also be selling accessories to supplement the S Health app: Look for an optional heart rate monitor and pedometer band. The software is nice, but I think there are more robust third-party options available.

WatchOn, powered by Peel, is also included. With it you can control a television set or set top box — the phone has an IR blaster — and the content guide is quite good. It’s easy to find out what’s on television through the phone and immediately see the content.

On select Samsung televisions, the software also allows you to watch the television programming on the phone itself; handy if you have to leave the viewing area while others are watching. Don’t go too far though: The content is streamed over your local Wi-Fi network.

If it’s not yet clear that the Galaxy S 4 is feature packed, let me assure you: I’ve only briefly touched upon most of the major features. You’ll likely find more if you take your own look at the phone. So is this a problem to the casual phone user? Perhaps, but Samsung has an improved Easy Mode for these folks.

Easy Mode is what it sounds like: A simpler interface with larger buttons that show the most likely used apps and features. In fact, some of the advanced functions aren’t even accessible in Easy Mode. At first, I didn’t like that chip card, but I’ve come around to appreciate it. Why? It gives new smartphone users a way to “graduate” to the full-featured Samsung experience without them having to buy a new Samsung phone. Many of the advanced features have useful pop-up descriptions as well; all of the camera modes have them, for example. You can always tell the phone to stop showing these once you’ve learned the functionality.

I’d like to see a little more innovation in the hardware design, but it’s a design that actually works well, so it’s difficult to complain about. Samsung does have an innovative cover accessory though. It’s called the S View Cover and I love it. It protects the display but has a cut-out window that shows information from the phone; you can even take a phone call without opening it.

Even though the Galaxy S 4 looks much like the model it replaces, this phone is a big step up thanks to the innovative software features and functions that Samsung has integrated. No phone is perfect for everyone, of course. I think most people, however, would be happy to have this device in their pocket.

Reward Conoco lawmakers for saving Alaska

Proponents of the tax cut under consideration, first proposed by Gov. Sean Parnell, believe that if the state gives up an estimated $5 to $6 billion in oil revenue over the next six years, it will induce companies to produce more oil and, according to the governor's weekly updates, “Fill the Pipeline.” Proponents also hope it will create more jobs in Alaska's oil patch, where employment recently reached a new smart card.

The oil companies with the greatest means and ability to produce crude say they're pleased with the proposed cuts but that they still are not deep enough to get new projects going. If foregoing around a billion or more per year doesn't make Alaska “competitive” enough, we just don't know what will. How many more Targets and Olive Gardens does Alaska need to pull even with North Dakota in the race for investment?

Though there were no new commitments for new projects, there will most certainly be “new” oil even if it has to come from fields that have been around since the first time parachute pants were cool.

We're only slightly worried that there probably won't be enough additional oil produced quickly enough to keep Alaska's budget out of the red. Alaska basically dodged the fiscal crisis that hit the rest of the world, but now it seems determined to choose fiscal austerity for no apparent reason. Maybe it'll build character. Alaskans of today have gotten a little soft with all this public fiscal solvency.

The bill passed the Senate, where a similar bill stalled out last session, by an 11-9 margin. If Sens. Kevin Meyer and Pete Micciche -- two of your employees -- had not voted, that measure would've died on the vine. Instead, it's now being bandied about in the House to reach final form. People are treating passage through the House as kind of a formality at this point, but it's not a done deal yet.

Which brings us to our major concern. A few of your employees past and present, direct and associated, have been key in the oil-tax cut bill's movement through the Legislature. And when it does finally pass, they will deserve a reward.

Conoco alone will stand to gain around hundreds of millions extra in the first year the new system takes effect. Even though it's reportedly not enough, We The Concerned think that if the bill passes, certain lawmakers are due at least one percent of the extra cash -- let's say $3 million to be split among them. It's only fair. The Concerned believe in nothing if not fair compensation for job well done.

Ever since VECO employees were caught giving lawmakers cash and cheeseburgers, Alaskans are a bit more prickly about old-fashioned expressions of constituent gratitude. Besides, that kind of scratch just won't fit in a plastic Easter egg.

If Alaska ever does see enough oil produced and it tightens enough public-sector belts to soak up the tax cut, those lawmakers will deserve a very public reward for creating jobs, fighting pipeline decline, and pumping the oil patch dry faster. If all that happens, Alaskans can rejoice, and rewards can flow to them out in plain sight. But until this whole new fiscal regime proves up, you should keep the Baksheesh on the down-low.

Maybe there's an energy conference in Barbados that you could send them to? A Palm Springs vacation for the whole family? Fact-finding trip to Thailand? Maybe at some swanky spa where Pete Kott hands out the beach towels?

A new company vehicle would really make those commutes into work easier. But be careful it's not too flashy. Make sure it has satellite radio, heated seats and leather everything, but for goodness' sake, keep the exterior low-key. No gold rims or special-edition TruckNutz.

It's not like giving such perks to employees is illegal or anything. Who knows, it might even be written into some contracts these days. It just won't look right to people. But if the bonuses get too conspicuous, Alaskans might start to complain. If they do, you can just tell them they got just what they voted for. It's not as if the Legislature's conflict of interest rules have changed, and it's not like no one knew that all these people have strong ties to the companies whose bottom lines they'd be voting on. Tell them it could be worse, much worse.

Since this tax cut still isn't a done deal, maybe no one will end up deserving a bonus anyway. Maybe the House will decide to add too many new "knobs and dials" and the effort will pancake like Wile E. Coyote.

As I stepped out to run an errand last week, I grabbed my cell phone but decided to leave my bulky wallet behind. What a mistake that was. On returning home, I had a serious sugar hankering, and took a detour to a bakery only to realize I didn’t have my wallet with me. Sweet tooth be damned, when will my mobile phone also be my wallet?

I first reported on mobile payment in 2009, and the subject continues to fascinate because mobile payment always seemed to lurk around the corner, coming soon to a merchant near me. After all, the technology that makes tap-and-go payment possible is already proven, having been in wide use for many years throughout Japan and South Korea where consumers simply tap their phones against a payment terminal and they’re good to go. Called near field communications (NFC), this technology allows devices to securely communicate with each other by either direct contact or over a very short distance, usually within 1.5 inches. Payments initiate when NFC-enabled handsets communicate with point-of-sale terminals that can read the credit or debit card information stored on the device.

Back in 2009, NFC-enabled mobile payment trials were being piloted by MasterCard and Visa in various global markets. A year later, RFID tag, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless announced Isis, their joint effort to build a mobile payment network. Today, the Isis Mobile Wallet is accepted by a combined total of some 1,500 merchants in Austin and Salt Lake City, according to a tally of merchants listed on the Isis website. This pales in comparison to the 200,000 outlets where Google says its Google Wallet is accepted. Not a tiny number, but even here in the early adopter hotbed of Silicon Valley , I have never seen anyone pay goods and services with their mobile phone at point-of-sale, much less posters that say “Google Wallet accepted here.” This fast, tap-and-go mobile payment that I’ve only heard and read about for the last four years seems to be nowhere in sight.