WGI D-8 Camera Review

We are going to be reviewing both the D-8 and the IR-8X cameras at the same time in different reviews. We want all to know that this brand name is all together different than what was seen in the two previous years. The distributor has upgraded to another manufacture and from what we have seen at this point was a very good decision. This being by far not a mini camera, (like MOULTRIE M-999I MINI GAME CAMERA ) it is a tall 11 inches and 7.5 inches wide. It will stick out off the tree almost 4 inches. There are no strap slots on the back and no strap in the package. There is just a small bungee hole at each corner to hang the camera. The bungee straps are not included in the package, but were supposed to be included. The outside finish is a satin black and has somewhat of a face look with the relation of the PIR sensor and lens on each side and the array in the middle. This is a little like two eyes and a nose. The camera has a full door with the camera in the back (my choice of design) and not in the door to knock off aim when mounted. There is a small loop for a little lock for the door is the only security. The external battery port is in the back bottom which would work well with their battery pack because it incorporates an elbow plug that will still fit in that space. A strait in plug would hold the back of the cam off the tree if used. The use of optical quality glass on the camera lens is a nice touch. There is a full weather seal around the door but they still use the pain in the butt flopping latches that want to swing into the crack when you want to close the door. The latches seem to close it up good and tight when you can arrange for them to be out of the way when closing the door. The camera is heavy so it will take a good bungee to hole it secure or one of those small ratchet straps around the whole camera and tree.

We were not so impressed with the documentation because of no specification table inside. For example this camera has three resolutions that are listed as being low, medium, and high. Being the high is 8 MP we assume that the other two settings would be maybe 3.1 and 5 MP. WE could not find this information in the booklet or on the package. When IR flash is selected you get a 26 count IR array to do the illumination. When you select the white flash you get a high output strobe for the illumination. The flash is rated out to 40 feet. The sensor is rated out to 60 feet. You can use up to 8 gig SD cards and there is an internal memory of 64 MB. Power to the camera is four D cells or an external six volt supply. This set of 4 D cells should give about 30 days of operating time when set to default. Open up the door and you will see the lenses, array and just below is the status lamps. There is a nice large LCD for programming and viewing your pictures. Below is the programming buttons and power/delete and reset buttons. SD card slot (up to 8 gig) is at the bottom and the USB tort is next to it.

Programming was very simple once you get the hang of it. They have a different style than we saw last year. They use the typical up/down/left/right with select buttons. Just toggle through and hit the right button on settings and image to enter the majority of selectable areas in the programming.

We see very little as far as security, so you will have to depend on after market items or order from their web site which has several options for their camera line. I am going to capture a few pictures and then get into some un official testing of trigger and such prior to getting it out for all the in depth inspections. I did a quick test outside which showed very natural color with sharp and clear pictures having good contrast. We just might have a couple of winners with these two top selections from WGI.

7-26-2010 update: Trigger times finally got done and the with flash came out at about a little longer than two and a half seconds but the night with flash were in the one and three quarters seconds time frame. Both strobe and IR flash reached out to the 50 foot marker. Sensing was 35 feet but the temperature was very high and that is not conclusive.

07-31-2010 update: We have developed some mock scrape areas to aid us in having more areas to capture sample pictures because of the load of cameras we are presently working on. This camera has very good day color pictures and fair IR night time pictures. The problems that we seen both in the day and night pictures is there was more motion blur than we like. For the time spent verses the amount of pictures this camera did a good job. Function was great but the motion blur makes animal that was moving very fuzzy.

09-19-2010 update: We just pulled the card and we had 939 more white flash pictures and this camera is still going. It has a new empty card and will remain out now until the batteries fail.

10-27-2010 update: We are into the season so our picture count is way down thus we will see the battery life of this camera go on for a longer time. It is just hanging in there and giving us very good service.



12-05-2010 update: This camera was still going today when we changed the card but the little snap feature that holds the SD card in fails to catch the card any more so even though we still have power we cannot use the cam anymore do to this failure. The camera had over 2500 white flash photos at the time the SD card slot failed and the battery levels were around 50%.

DROBO 5N

The 5N is one of Drobo's most popular network-attached storage products. Drobo designed the 5N to bridge the gap between performance and affordability while keeping a small footprint that is ideal for desk placement. Advanced features keep the 5N from being an entry-level appliance, but it is a great system for beginners due to its focus on ease of use.

Since our review of the Drobo B810n 8-bay NAS appliance, the company stepped back to assess where it could make improvements to its products as a whole. Drobo expanded the software package that affects many of the company's network-attached products. In 2016, we've seen upgrades to the hardware, feature set, and software. Drobo is currently working on making well-rounded products and not resting on its laser-like focus on ease of use.

Even with the new features, Drobo network-attached products are still the easiest NAS to configure and get working in your home or office. The system doesn't present many choices for you during the initial set up because the hardware eliminates the need to truly understand the software. Once you put drives in the system, the hardware takes over and builds a default configuration that most people would use. The base configuration with BeyondRAID technology is very good right out of the box. It doesn't matter if your drives match, if you fill the entire system or even use just a single drive. What you get is what you want 95 percent of the time, and without any user interaction. The premise is simple; here is your storage volume, do with it what you will.

The DROBO 5N uses a low-power four-core Marvell Armada XP system-on-chip (SoC) processor. The processor is accompanied by 2 gigabytes of Sk Hynix DDR3 system memory. The Linux-based operating system rests on a NAND flash-based DOM from Apacer, so the files running the system do not reside on your storage array.

IO is limited to a single gigabit Ethernet port on the back of the system. The only other port is for the external power supply that feeds the system. The 5N features an internal battery that will flush any cached data to your storage system in the event of a power failure event.

There are five 3.5" tray-less drive bays that accept your drives without a carrier or any other mounting apparatus, like screws. The drives just slide in, and a tab on the appliance keeps them in place. A removable cover on the bottom of the system hides an mSATA port where users can install a solid-state drive for high-speed IO caching via Drobo's Data Aware Tiering. Your workload will determine the drive's effectiveness, as it doesn't cache all workloads at the same rate.

Pricing

We found the Drobo 5N available at a number of popular online retailers for $489.99. The Drobo Store lists the 5N diskless model for $549 but allows users to configure the system with preinstalled disks. The store offers options that range from 2TB to 20TB in five different capacities.

Warranty

The Drobo 5N ships in the United States with a limited 1-year warranty. That doubles to 2 years in the European Union. Users also gain 24/7 telephone support for the first 90 days of ownership. You can purchase an additional warranty through DroboCare in one year ($129) and three-year ($279) increments.

No Alexa, and no universal search

At the device's India launch event, Amazon Fire Stick jailbroken with Kodi voice hunt feature can pick up Indian names. We were skeptical of this guarantee, but it worked near perfectly in our testing. From movies  to celebrities , Amazon Fire Stick with Kodi does a great job of picking up what you say. You're able to ever search by genre or director, but do not expect the search feature to really go any further.

Amazon Fire Stick jailbroken in India is a severely dumbed-down version of its true self. For one, Amazon's voice-based assistant, Alexa, won't work, which means your dream of controlling media and ordering pizza with voice commands has been dashed. If you tell your remote to "launch Netflix" or "skip ahead 10 minutes", it will only launch a search for that exact phrase, not do as you say.

What's worse is that universal search is also missing. Amazon Fire Stick Kodi doesn't seem to be indexing the content of any services other than Amazon Prime Video -- so you have to launch unique apps if you want to watch a Netflix exclusive show or an IPL match, for example. With so many different streaming services available.

In the US, Amazon expanded this capability to cover more than 75 content sources this past year. In India, the Prime Video catalog is relatively small. This severely undercuts the appeal of Amazon Fire Stick jailbroken for sale Stick, and we hope that Amazon is working with developers to add their catalogs to the mix in the not too distant future. If you're not an Amazon Prime member, the Fire TV Stick's lack of indexing and a restricted search will be even more disappointing.

We reached out to Amazon India on the various shortcomings of the Amazon Fire Stick hack-- the lack of voice commands, universal search, and plans for the Amazon Fire Stick unlocked, and the Gaming Controller. A company representative told us that although those things are part of the roadmap, they didn't have the liberty to discuss it any further.

At launch, Amazon is giving buyers a range of freebies to sweeten the deal. They include some cash back as Amazon Pay balance, free data for Airtel Broadband and You Broadband subscribers, and limited-time premium subscriptions to Eros Now, Gaana, and Voot. The catch here is that the Amazon Prime and content offers don't apply to existing members. You will need to join with new accounts to make the most of the cash back or free premium services.

Verdict

At Rs. 3,999, the Amazon Fire Stick fully loaded sits neatly alongside that other streaming stick -- the Chromecast -- which has become massively popular throughout the last few decades. The two are regularly touted as rivals, but even though both are constructed for streaming content, they are rather distinct in their approach.

The Chromecast is made for men and women who know what they would like to watch. You open an app on your phone and then cast it to your TV screen. The Amazon Fire Stick free channels, by comparison, encourages that old TV habit of browsing around, and thanks to its interface, we did find ourselves going through apps that we might normally not bother with.

If you watch a lot of Prime Video content, then the Amazon Fire Stick fully loaded will surely appeal to you. For everyone else, Google's Chromecast will continue to prove useful, more so since it, you can use it using an assortment of apps.

Voice commands and universal search are the two most obvious advantages of the Amazon Fire Stick jailbroken, but those legs are cut off for Indian audiences, leaving behind a not-so-smart product that does few things but does them well.

Tips for Cleaning Sidewalks and Driveways

Would you remember when you had your entrance and pavement installed? Do you remember how beautiful it had been? It was so great. Currently, decades later, the real sidewalk repair Bronx and garage seem absolutely awful. The spots are huge and in place of a bright-ish shade, the garage is almost dark, or a dark dull, based on how intensely applied your entrance is.

It doesn't matter how dreadful your concrete Bronx sidewalk repair and driveway seems, that you do not want to undertake the task of cleaning DOT sidewalk violation Bronx and drives - particularly tangible. Cement is among the most challenging resources to wash as it is extremely absorbing. If you have the best gear, then it would become a little simpler; nonetheless, there's lots of physical labor required. To ensure that the job to look qualified, you need special products and sealers which can be created designed for washing concrete.

Have a Power Machine on Hand

Do not possibly undertake a tangible washing task should you choose to have a power appliance since your property water hose is just not likely to have the desired effect. If you do not possess a power washer and don't know anyone you can acquire one from, but simply do not wish to head out and purchase one, then examine your neighborhood equipment or home-improvement shop to rent one. Without a power washer, it'll be difficult to really get your sidewalk repair Bronx NY and driveway thoroughly cleaned.

Prepare for Substantial Physical Work

Washing sidewalk repair contractors in Bronx New York and drives of any ingredient are not straightforward and have a lot of real job on your own component. Be prepared to commit several hours on your Bronx sidewalk repair and garage washing project. It is not a straightforward, fast task and may effortlessly take a full day to accomplish in case you aren't careful and manage your time wisely. Determined by exactly how many sidewalk repair contractor Bronx and the way big the sidewalk repair contractor Bronx and driveways are, it might turn into a two-day task.

Purchase Cleaners and Sealers

If you are washing concrete, then you'll desire to get cleaners and quality sealants that are produced specifically for concrete. Having an ample cleaner, you will get the concrete cleaner to a higher amount than if you could have applied a typical cleaner. As the sealant isn't needed, it's encouraged. The wax is indeed as possible address the concrete Bronx sidewalk repair and driveway once they have now been carefully washed. This will just assist them to keep the new, new look for a longer time frame and could help reduce greatly.

Cleaning your personal Bronx sidewalk repair and garage may become a fairly huge work and it's also essential that you be familiar with this before you undertake such a DIY project. If you believe the job would be too much for you, or you do not desire to invest hours on the career that you have to go book an electric washer for, you may choose to outsource the task to some regional contractor or in the minimum a neighborhood small son for some spending income.

GOAL ZERO VENTURE 30 SOLAR KIT

Last summer, after it debuted at the Outdoor Retailer trade show, we said the Venture 30 by Goal Zero offers a “new standard in portable power.” It subsequently won one of our “Best In Show” nods, because of its solid construction and smart gadget-charging design.
Now months later we’ve had GOAL ZERO VENTURE 30 SOLAR KIT units kicking around in the office here and in the field.
We use them to recharge phones, GoPros, UV water-purification pens, Bluetooth speakers, and the litany of other electrified gear we now, for better or worse, often find ourselves hauling into the woods.

Full Test

In short, the unit works great. It’s a simple battery pack with ports to interface with almost any gadget. A stiff, pliable cord wraps around the unit for easy storage. Two 2.4A USB outputs let you power up a pair of products at the same time.

The charging ports on the unit are high-speed USB and a regulated USB-micro port. The cord is basically the same — it has a USB side and a Micro USB tip.

A bonus, the LED battery indicator lights double as a flashlight, which is nice when trying to plug in an item at a dark campsite.

The Venture 30 is compatible with about 90 percent of the gadgets we use. However, in some cases, including Apple products, you will need a different cord or an adapter.

Charge Test. The device was able to consistently power up an iPhone almost three times, or a GoPro about five times. We tested the phone claim this week again in the GearJunkie lab, and we got an average of “2.66 smartphone charges,” meaning it charged two dead phones fully, and then one additional phone to 66 percent.

The “full charge” test is a good way to assess overall power supply and capabilities. But we find in the field, especially for day trips, the Venture 30 has enough power that its overall capacity isn’t a concern. If a camera or phone is running low, just plug it into the unit for 20 minutes to get a usable device again.

Power Up. For longer trips you’ll use up the capacity of the Venture 30. A solar panel, laptop USB port, or a wall outlet can be used to revive the battery pack. It can take a while to pump all the energy back into the palm-size unit, so be sure to charge it at home before heading outdoors.

We timed a standard wall-plug recharge from zero to full at about eight hours. Solar charging times vary on the strength of the sun but expect at least eight hours for a full charge.

Solar Charge. A solar panel like the company’s Nomad 7 works in the field to recharge the unit. We tried it out in bright sun as well as rain — it is waterproof and did work, but with significantly increased charging times required when cloudy.

Durability. We sprayed the Venture 30 with a hose, dropped it off ledges onto rocks, and let it sit in the rain. The unit, which Goal Zero says has unique “wrapped and sealed” USB ports, does not require rubber plugs. It gets an IPX6 weatherproof rating — basically waterproof, but don’t swim with it.

While not the smallest or lightest of power packs, at about 9 ounces and 4.5 inches across its face, the Venture 30 inspires confidence. It is a solid, well-built battery bank that you can throw in a pack and forget until needed.

The only fault we found with the unit was that the ends of the included cord are a bit bulky and don’t fit well (or at all) into some gadgets. We used cords that came with these devices instead of the Goal Zero cord in these cases.

Final Thoughts. Overall, the Venture 30 has little not to like. Its price is on par with similar units, but it has advantages over almost every other battery pack we’ve tried, including about a dozen competitive options.

3 Marketing Lessons From The Big Data-Driven Business

Book Review & Interview

How many times have you made a purchase either online or in a store and found that you either received recommendations or coupons after your purchase that seemed to be exactly what you were looking for? That experience is one example of how companies are using big data to create a better experience and more effectively target buyers based on previous behaviors.

The sheer amount of trackable activity that exists today has begun to make data collection and analysis a much more manageable task, and the impact is in the numbers. Research has found that for a Fortune 1000 company, increasing data accessibility by just 10% has the potential to result in more than $65 million dollars in additional revenue.

9 Social Media Marketing Trends

Social media is always evolving, so what’s next?

That’s the question I was asked in an interview recently. This kind of question can be really easy since there are so many easy candidates – IoT, VR, and just about anything to do with Facebook.

But if you don’t want to rely on the cliches of future social technology, it can be a challenge to pick out what will matter and why. I suppose this post is somewhere in the middle and I hope it helps you think about where the substance breaks away from the shiny social media objects.

The most important thing about social media marketing isn’t always the tech. It’s the people.

6 Tips on Finding the Right Channels For Your Business

6 Tips on Finding the Right Channels For Your Business

As the year winds down, most companies are putting the finishing touches on budgets and strategies for 2016. As a digital marketing agency, consulting with clients on matters like this is a huge part of our business. When the fiscal year winds down for most companies, we always see an influx in companies looking for consultation on where to spend their remaining marketing dollars.

“We’ve got X budget, which paid channel should we invest in?”