Wow, we just burned through 14 bags over the last seven days. We looked at dual-purpose bags, weather-proof backpacks, camera satchels, and even went hands-on with a bag worthy of Batman. Hopefully you were introduced to a few new options. There is no reason why you should still be using that laptop briefcase you uncle gave you for graduation.
The whole collection has been conveniently condensed into one giant list after the jump. Also, we’re currently exploring more potential review week topics. Drop any suggestions you might have in the comments below the Bag Week Review Round-up after the jump.
• Small Backpack
• Perfect size for an ultra-portable notebook
• $99 MSRP
• From the review: ”This bag can be summed up in the amount of pockets it has: 27.”
• Satchel bag
• Dual purpose camera/notebook bag
• $170 MSRP
• From the review: ”The 8MDH might not be for everyone due to its large size, but it will hold a ton of camera gear as well as your laptop.”
• Huge backpack
• Triple purpose camera / notebook / everything bag
• $199 MSRP
• From the review: ”You could pack for a multi-week European vacation in the bag.”
• Messenger bag
• Nothing fancy, just a low-cost bag
• $79 MSRP
• From the review: ”So far the Sumo Messenger Laptop Bag has taken a beating and kept on carrying, although there is plenty of bulking in evidence.”
• Camera bag
• Holds both a DSLR and a 11-inch notebook
• $50 MSRP
• From the review: ”Sure, the bag is $50, which is somewhat steep for a smaller bag. But because it holds my DSLR and 11-inch notebook in such perfect harmony, it has my vote.”
• Messenger and Satchel bags
• Weather-proof utility bags
• $80 MSRP
• From the review: ”What I like the best about both of them is that they are lined with a rubber material which should keep the bag’s contents safe from weather.”
• Backpack
• Comfy to wear
• $155 MSRP
• From the review: ”I wouldn’t have any issue recommending it to someone looking for a decent laptop backpack that will last pretty much forever.”
• Backpack
• Listed as weather-proof, but could pass for water-proof
• $180 MSRP
• From the review: ”Weather-proof, comfortable, roomy, and understated, it’s the best backpack I’ve used for years.”
• A true messenger bag
• Lots of storage space, but few organizational pockets
• $140 MSRP
• From the review: ”The construction and materials are top-notch. I bet this bag will out-last me.”
• A backpack/sling
• Tons of camera storage
• $145 MSRP
• From the review: ”You could probably fit a whole Ritz Camera store in it and still have room for a sack lunch.”
Good morning. We have a week until Christmas and we’ve been pounding out giveaways left and right. We’ve had Smart Pens, Olive Hi-Fis, and your own personal Ninja for a year (didn’t see that one? There’s a reason.) But today we’re here to announce the final big giveaway: a $500 gift card towards anything you want from the kind folks at Lottay.com.
Here’s what’s up.
First, a bit about Lottay:
The Lottay online gift-giving and wish-list service helps individuals and groups give and receive better gifts. Lottay gifts are money, wrapped in the emotion of the occasion via e-greeting cards, personalized messages, images and pictures. Givers can specify the gift they would like the money to buy — from a cup of coffee to a Caribbean cruise and beyond — while receivers are free to use the money to buy the intended gift or anything else they want.
The gift is sent instantly and securely, delivered as a surprise via email and Facebook. Unlike gift cards and physical gifts, there are no hidden fees or shipping and handling charges with Lottay gifts. The entire Lottay.com experience is online, safe and secure thanks to PayPal. There is no cost to gift givers and recipients using the Lottay service.
So what’s going to happen? Well, you’re going to head over to Lottay and make a wishlist. Put whatever you want into it. Down at the bottom of the page, over “Add Your Wish” will be a secret code. Cut and paste that into comments. Bingo. That’s it.
Good luck, happy holidays, and thanks for reading.
Sure, all the cool kids are ditching cable and satellite these days, but us normal folk still pay for our TV. If that’s you, then you need a DVR and Arris wants you to have a brand new Moxi HD DVR this holiday season. And yup, you get the new triple-tuner model that allows you to record three cable stations at once. The Moxi HD DVR doesn’t have any subscription costs, can record up to 75 hours of HD, and is packed full of features. You’ll love it, but you have to win it first.
You should know the drill by now. Leave a comment below describing your first TV and we’ll pick the winner at random on 12/18/2009. The winner must have a US shipping address. This DVR only works with cable systems so satellite subscribers and antenna users need not play. Good luck!
Of course if you don’t win, you could always swing over to Moxi.com and pick up a dual tuner model for $499 or the triple-tuner model with a Moxi Mate for $799. Just saying.
Gather ‘round, kids. Gather ‘round. I’m going to tell you the story of a disappointing Christmas gift from back before many of you were born. With every blog on the internet doing year-end and best-of lists, I thought I might try to shake things up a bit by telling you about an overhyped and underwhelming technology product from a long, long time ago.
The year was 1986. The Minnesota Twins hadn’t even won their first pennant yet and a fresh-faced second grader by the name of Doug Aamoth had been mesmerized – MESMERIZED! – by the following commercial.
“I must have it,” I thought to myself. “That puma-like creature is so lifelike. I could, in turn, create my own lifelike animations with such a product.”
I begged my parents for it. Back then, just about every toy cost $10 but this thing was a whopping $50. For a toy! I didn’t care. I considered it an investment in my impending career as a cartoon animator. With no support from my parents I, like many kids, turned to Santa.
The fat man came through and, sure enough, under the tree at the crack of dawn on Christmas morning was my Etch A Sketch Animator. I tore the box open, my hands trembling, my heart racing. “I’m going to make a cartoon right now!” I declared for all to hear.
By 3:00 that afternoon, I had managed to make some sort of asinine stick figure that jumped around on the screen amongst perhaps three full frames of animation.
The concept behind the Etch A Sketch Animator is this: You have 12 frames to work with. You draw the first frame, save it, and then draw the next frame trying to closely mimic the previous frame, yet changing it enough so as to create an animation effect. Images were drawn on a digital screen pixel by pixel, the entire screen being maybe 60 pixels wide by 60 pixels tall. Although you only had 12 distinct frames to work with, you could repeat certain frames in the animation sequence for a combined total of up to 96 frames.
It didn’t really matter, though, as the end result was usually a blocky, twitchy mess. To be fair, the manual came with some step-by-step animations that you could copy but making your own decent animation from scratch would have taken the better part of a decade. Also, talent. It would have taken talent. And patience.
So by the age of seven, I had learned a few things. First, good marketing works. You don’t need to have a great product if you can market it well, especially if it’s a toy for kids. That may not hold up as well nowadays when we can all share information much more quickly but back in 1986 it was like OH MY GOD THAT PANTHER JUMPED OVER THAT FENCE I WANT THAT!
Second, frame-by-frame animation is not a good activity for a small child. And when introduced to a child at too young of an age, it ruins any chances that the child will grow up to be an animator. Every time I see a cartoon of any type nowadays, I get heartburn.
Aside from the above commercial, there was another Etch A Sketch Animator commercial whose jingle I’ll never forget. It went something like this:
‘Cause I’m a creee-ator with my animator,
Nothing can stop me now!
Yeah I’m a creee-ator with my animator,
Watch, I’ll show you how!
Except I was a creator only in the sense that I managed to produce crude, blocky Rorschach-like shapes that wiggled from frame to frame. And something did indeed “stop me now” – that thing being lack of talent, focus, time, and interest. As for the “Watch, I’ll show you how” part, there wasn’t another eight-year-old in the world who would have sat still long enough to learn how to use The Animator. It was a day-long seminar, at the very least.
So to the marketing department at Ohio Art in 1986, I salute you. You got me good.
Everyone needs more storage. But why spend the cash an external drive when we’re giving away a sexy 500GB G-Drive mini? It’s small, has both USB and Firewire interfaces, and sexy like it’s big brother I just reviewed.
All you need to do is leave a comment with the storage capacity of your first computer with a dedicated hard drive. Mine was a 1.2GB drive in a Compaq desktop. I thought I would never fill that up.
Vote only once and the winner must have a US shipping address. We’ll pick the winner on 12/15/2009. Good luck!
This week we’re going to go a little crazy. We’ll still have daily giveaways but we’re going to offer you the chance to totally go nuts and win a SMART Board 685ix short throw magical whiteboard with installation included. What’s that you say? What will I do with a whiteboard? Good question!
Heck if I know, but it’s way cool. But here’s a short description:
Experience interactivity like never before with the SMART Board 685ix interactive whiteboard system. As the world’s first ultra-short throw interactive whiteboard system, the 685ix combines an ultra-short-throw projector with a widescreen interactive whiteboard. The 685ix offers you unparalleled image quality, a precise touch experience and a large interactive surface for teaching and learning.
The system’s ultra-short-throw projector, the UX60, virtually eliminates shadows, glare and distracting projector light. It is positioned directly above the interactive whiteboard, projecting crisp, bright images from only 12″ (30.5 cm) away. And because the 685ix’s interactive whiteboard is widescreen, it has 20% more working space than a standard board.
Presumably this is good for your office or school, so feel free to enter on behalf of those institutions. There are a few basic rules:
* SMART will ship a Board to the winner’s school or business, and will be responsible for shipping, installation, and warranty issues, in accordance with all applicable laws. SMART will ship the Board within seven days of confirmation of the winner’s contact information.
The contest prize provided by SMART includes:
* One Board with SMART Notebook software;
* On-site professional installation services for the Board; and
* Shipping to any location in Canada or the United States.
* Eligibility – The contest is open to Canadian and US residents only. Participants must enter on behalf of their Canadian or US business or educational institution and the prize will be awarded to the business or institution, not the individual.
* The retail value of the Board is $5,999 USD.
How do you win? Comment on five upcoming SMART Board contest posts, including this one. This means we will post one reminder per day. You will have to comment on all five. Remember to check back here every day. We won’t post on TechCrunch every day. On Friday we will check to see all entrants who entered five times and pick one at random. Easy enough? OK! Get cracking!
Kata CS-17 Camera Satchel
Booq Boa Squeeze
Crumpler 8 Million Dollar Home
Booq Boa Flow XL
Sumo Messenger Bag
Kata Digital Bag DB-453
Chrome Bags Corsair & Vega
Timbuk2 Commute 2.0
Crumpler King Single
Chrome Bags Soyuz
Chrome Bags Buran
Booq Mamba Shift
Kata 3N1-33
