Author: Juan Carlos Bagnell

Juan has been obsessed with consumer electronics since before computers had GUI’s. Out of college he worked on a JIT computing contract which supported DOE facilities in New Mexico. He’s been featured on numerous podcasts and radio shows lending his tech insights. You can also find him in LA directing voice over actors and producing spoken word recording.
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Review: Waze arrives on Windows Phone

waze windows phone app review somegadgetguy (2)In all the Instagram hub-bub there was another huge service which released a Windows Phone app. Navigation sweetheart Waze is now available for those of us using Live Tiles!

Using the service, it feels very much like Waze on Android, which is a good thing. Those making the switch wont have to re-learn much. The major changes involve incorporating tile-like options in the menu settings. Also, unlike Instagram, it doesn’t appear that there’s anything missing from the Waze port on WP8.

Waze is a user generated GPS service. Waze uses your location data to keep maps up to date, and people using Waze can report things like accidents, closures, and police activity. Those reports show up on your map. Because Waze is reading your GPS data, it also happens to be one of the most accurate services I’ve seen for estimating your time of arrival. It has moment to moment readings on how fast traffic is moving where ever Waze users are. In a large market like LA, it’s super accurate. Continue reading “Review: Waze arrives on Windows Phone”

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PSA: Buy A Nokia Lumia 2520 before January 31st and get a FREE Power Keyboard (normally $150)!

Nokia-Power-Keyboard-with-Nokia-Lumia-2520It’s the season of giving, and Nokia is hooking it up for you tablet shoppers!

I recently named the Lumia 2520 the Windows RT tablet of the year, and I think it’s already a great bargain when you compare it to an iPad hardware-wise. Nokia is sweetening the pot though by throwing in a free Power Keyboard Cover! This baby sports a QWERTY keyboard and built in battery to add hours more run time to your Windows slate. Normally a $150 add on.

Just fill out this form, and you’re all set! Enjoy!

Related:
Dreamworks’ Dragons Adventure on the Lumia 2520
Lumia 2520 vs Surface 2
Lumia 2520 hands-on video

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Friday Fun: Loot Crate Un-boxing! November 2013 CELEBRATE #LootCrate

LootCrate Whats in the boxOh how I loves me some loot!

Each month cool geeky gamer gear is lovingly delivered right to my doorstep. A small mysterious black box is dropped off, and it’s always a surprise seeing what’s inside!

Last month Loot Crate was rocking some zombie gear!  This month’s theme is CELEBRATE, and it’s time to see what we’ll be celebrating!

You can sign up to receive your very own Loot Crates! $13.37 + $6 shipping. Less than $20 for way more than $20 worth of gear! Oh, would you like to get it even cheaper? Save 10% on your Loot Crate by using promo code “SGLOOT” at checkout!

Sign up for Loot Crate: http://LootCrate.com/GadgetGuy

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Friday fun: Will.i.am tries to explain his iPhone case…

It’s not like he built his career on trying to be a wordsmith or anything…

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App Review: Nokia Refocus for Windows Phone – Shoot first THEN make sure your subject is in focus!

nokia refocus logoLike something out of a bad CSI re-run:

“Zoom into that flower. Enhance. See if you can clean up that focus.”

It’s a trip that we can now do things kinda like that. Refocus turns your Lumia into a Lytro style camera. Hold your camera steady for a couple seconds as the camera scans a scene, and then you can choose what to focus on later. We’re now officially living in the future.

Let’s take a look!

Refocus on the Windows App Store.

Here’s an example of how Refocus works. The flower pic I showed in the video can be embedded, allowing you to play with the focus points in a web browser.

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RIP: Winamp to shut down December 20th 2013 – no longer available to download

RIP WinampI have such fond memories of Winamp. It was a mandatory download for MP3 playing back in the Windows XP days. No program like it had the wealth of streaming radio and customization options. Hours were spent selecting exactly the right skin and visualization plugins. It was the best.

Winamp even seemed primed for a potential comeback during the early days of Android, offering up a fantastic mobile app which synced to the desktop player, and served users WiFi music sync. Before the app market became Google Play, we didn’t have an iTunes-like media management system, and Winamp was pretty handy for quickly swapping and updating our playlists.

Unfortunately, in a world of cloud services like Pandora, Spotify, and Google Play Music, our poor little Winamp just wasn’t able to continue competing against streaming radio and cloud solutions.

The entire Winamp ecosystem is shutting down December 20th of this year.

No more downloading the desktop player. No more Winamp.com. All the other associated features will be turned off. Say goodnight Gracie.

Those who still have Winamp software installed, I’m sure it’ll still function locally, but I think it’s time to move on. Start finding other solutions. I haven’t used it in years, but I’m going to miss Winamp.

It no longer whips the llama’s ass…

(via Winamp)

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Google Wallet Card now Available for Everyone

google wallet cardGoogle has found itself in a sticky situation when it comes to Wallet. While trying to move forward with Tap+Pay NFC functionality, it ran into security road blocks with the major cell phone carriers who were developing their competing ISIS payment system.

Recently, Google has evolved what Wallet is. Starting with a more PayPal-like money sending service tied to GMail, including membership and rewards cards, and now moving Wallet out of its digital app situation and into your real-world um… wallet.

Now you can grab a Wallet card, which ties to your online Wallet account. If you have funds in Wallet online, you can use your card anywhere Mastercard is accepted to pay for goods and services. You can also use it to make cash withdrawals at ATM’s. As other online payment systems have started making inroads into the general shopping experience, none of them have been able to rival old fashioned plastic, so this Mastercard compatibility is pretty key.

It’s a handy end-run around the Tap+Pay fiasco, though I do hope we can see some of the NFC functionality return to non-Nexus handsets outside of Sprint (currently the only carrier supporting NFC Wallet). The timing on this is also critical as we’re about to see Amazon’s payment system go wider with a new set of developer API’s allowing smaller merchants to use Amazon’s one-click payment system on other sites.

(via Google Wallet)

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A Brief Comparison – The Nokia Lumia 2520 vs the Microsoft Surface 2

WP_20131120_12_11_21_ProThe Lumia 2520 tablet launches today!

And while I’ve already named it the Windows Tablet of the year, and we’ve put it on video, I thought I’d do a brief rundown comparison between it and Microsoft’s own solution for Windows RT the Surface 2. What follows are my personal experiences handling both tablets, and if you disagree with me, it’s most likely because you’re wrong.

Build Quality and Construction

I have to give a subtle edge to the Lumia here with the matte finish Lumias. I don’t like glossy gadgets, and the matte black 2520 has an excellent feel in the hand. There’s a grippiness to the back plate which feels great in the hand without feeling like cheap rubber or tacky plastic. You could almost describe it as satiny or velvety. The red Lumia is striking, we don’t see tablets in colors, but I don’t like fingerprint smudges.  Continue reading “A Brief Comparison – The Nokia Lumia 2520 vs the Microsoft Surface 2”

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