gadgets

First of all, I know I should have posted this a few months ago before it was April and 60 degrees F outside, anyway…

Yes, USB Hand Warmers are a thing! I was joking that it’s just a USB power bank that shorts itself out and overheats, but hand warmers you can charge via USB are totally a thing… And I tried a pair out.

I actually ended up giving these to my daughter who was hoping for “electric gloves” (sorry!) and she said they’ll work just fine… but I did test them out a bit before she got them. These “OCOOPA Magnetic Hand Warmers Rechargeable” were just under $20 USD and they did work well. The magnetic part just means they stick together on the flat side. I’m not sure it’s an amazing feature unless you think magnets are magic. (Some people do!)

I think my only complaint is that the little LEDs to show if it’s charging or the battery is low are difficult to see. You need to get the angle just right to see them as there are tiny holes that lead to the LEDs mounted inside.

The warmers were small and slim enough to slide into my pockets for a winter bike ride and then put into my gloves (facing my palms) once I got off the bike. So yeah, just like magnets these totally work. USB Hand Wamers. Cool. (I mean, Warm!)

Note: This post may contain Affiliate Links. Read More.

I lead the Share Your Gadgets session at BarCampMilwaukee, where geeks gathered to gab about gadgets…

It went very well, but like many sessions, it seemed too short. We spent about an hour, but it could have easily gone twice as long. I talked a bit about my PIX Sports device, which is cool, but not quite cool enough. I described how it sort of required morse code to program it to display something, and while the geek factor on that is high, the usability is a bit low. The group was surprised you couldn’t just plug it into a USB port to program it. That would definitely be a nice addition (as long as it didn’t require some lame Windows-only software.) I also mentioned how it had no on/off switch and to turn if off you have to remove the batteries. Someone thought that making it use USB for charging would be a good idea, and it would. So this is a gadget that is cool, but the 2.0 version could be so much cooler.

We also saw and discussed a number of phones and software apps run on them, a Psion organizer circa 1992, and an AlphaSmart Dana Wireless system. This is definitely one session that I wish could have run twice as long. (In fact, I could have went for hours discussing gadget UI‘s, usability, and connectivity.) Ah, well, there’s always next BarCamp…