iClever 6-Pack Micro USB Cables

Anyone who has ever purchased a cheap cable knows what sorts of misery they can put you through: Loose connections. Broken connectors. Jacketing that pulls away from the connector. Ugly molding. Unreliable connection. Ever since I purchased my first smartphone I've been looking for an inexpensive, yet good quality, micro USB cable. And I have finally found one.

Amazon: iClever 6-Pack Micro USB Cables

This kit was the most recent product that iClever has sent to me for review. It comes with six USB to micro USB charging/sync cables in various lengths:

• 1x 1ft
• 3x 3ft
• 2x 6ft

The three most important things I look for when purchasing a product such as this are 1) price, 2) build quality, and 3) aesthetics. The iClever Micro USB Cables score solidly in all three of these categories:

- PRICE: 6 cables for $12.99. That works out to $2.17 per cable.
- BUILD QUALITY: (See pictures for more detail) The build quality of these cables is about as good as I've seen of any micro USB cable. I have several OEM cables that are slightly better, but those cost at least $15 or $20 per cable. The micro USB connector is snug (in fact it's almost too snug, but that's a much better problem to have than too loose), the cable is reasonably pliable, and the strain reliefs are secure.
- AESTHETICS: One of my biggest pet peeves is ugly connector housings. They bug me to no end - especially those of a generic micro USB: square and hard with ridges and holes all over them. Again the iClever cables score top points in this category. The housings are slim, smooth, and visually pleasing.

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I am always hesitant to give an "in-exchange-for-review" product 5 stars. Many people in this situation give a top-rating - I don't know why. Maybe it's because they feel as if the company will not keep sending them review products if they don't. Maybe it's because their opinion is swayed by the face that they received the product for free. Maybe it's because the company tells them to. In any case, it's these false 5-star ratings that ruins the user review system.

I have reviewed several of iClever's "in-exchange-for-review" products, and have not given them 5 stars because I didn't think they were worthy of that rating, and yet iClever keeps sending me review products. Kudos to iClever for that.

With all that said, I have given this product a 5 star review because I truly feel that it deserves one. I am genuinely pleased with this product. After two weeks there is no sign of damage, and I am expecting that they will last a good long time.

Review of TASCAM 16x08 Digital Audio Interface

INTRODUCTION:

I started recording about 5 years ago, and have been using an Ayre Acoustics QA-9 2 channel ADC (Analog to Digital Converter, otherwise known as a digital audio interface) for about 3 of those years. Needless to say, the QA-9 sounds absolutely incredible, but has the limitation of only having two inputs and no outputs. This was fine for recording my overdubbed songs because the most channels I'd simultaneously record was two, say for a stereo pair while recording acoustic guitar.

Within the last year I have begun recording other artists more frequently. It soon became apparent that I would need more inputs. So after researching for a while I decided to purchase this Tascam 16x08 - mainly because it was a great price for so many inputs.

MAIN UNIT:

After using it for almost three months, I can say that I am very happy with my purchase. The sound quality is not nearly as good as the QA-9, but unless you have a very keen ear you are very unlikely to notice the difference. Having 16 inputs is huge. It's amazing, really. I can now run 4 drum mics, a stereo pair on a guitar, two vocals, an electric guitar DI, and a bass DI all without an external mic amplifier. Since there are 8 mic inputs, two line/instrument inputs, and 6 line inputs, you would need to have an external mic amp to run more than 8 mics.

Additionally, this unit does not have a wordclock input or output, meaning that you cannot sync it with another digital audio interface.

DRIVERS AND SOFTWARE:

Some other reviewers have complained about driver incompatibility with Windows 7 and 10. I have mainly run this unit on a Windows 8.1 machine, and have had no issues at all. I use Mixcraft 7 Pro Studio as my main DAW, and the 16x08 works great as my audio I/O using the ASIO driver.

Up until about a month ago, this unit would not work with my Windows 10 machine. Windows would recognize the MIDI I/O, but not the audio. However with Tascam's recent driver update (v 1.03), the Windows 10 compatibility issue was resolved. Now it works perfectly, just like on 8.1

The Windows software that comes with this device is pretty good - It has a clean, usable interface, runs smoothly, and has some good options. The mixer functionality of the software is rather confusing though. Basically, the signal goes from the input, through the volume controls (channels 1-10), through the ADC, through the compressor and EQ, and then are split off to the USB chip before continuing to the mixer (faders), then to the DAC (Digital to Analog Converter), and finally to the main output buss. So what it boils down to is that the software mixer only affects the analog output buss, not the USB output. The downside of this configuration is that YOU CANNOT HAVE LEVEL PRESETS WHILE USING THIS AS A DIGITAL AUDIO INTERFACE - you have to physically set the gain pots on the mic channels.

OUTPUTS:

Having 8 reroutable analog outputs means that you have lots of flexible routing options. For example in my setup, I have channels 1 and 2 going to my booth monitors (1 and 2 have a dedicated level control on the front panel), channels 3 and 4 as my main headphone output going to my 6 channel headphone amp/distributor, and channels 5, 6, 7, and 8 as individual headphone mixes.

PROS AND CONS:

+ Great price for so many inputs
+ Works smoothly on Windows 8.1 and 10
+ 8 built in mic preamps - no need for external preamps
+ 2 instrument level inputs - no need for a dedicated DI
+ 8 outputs allow for lot of routing options

- Only goes up to 96/24 - No hi-rez 192
- Virtual mixer does not effect USB audio
- Sounds good, not great
- No wordclock I/O

CONCLUSION:

Overall, this is a great digital audio interface if you need lots of channels, aren't looking for audiophile-class sound, and don't want to spend thousands of dollars.

BestSkinsEver Screen Protector for Pebbble

I have been looking at smartwatches for quite a while, so when the red Pebble went on sale at Best Buy I jumped onto the smartwatch bandwagon with no hesitation. After two days of use I realized that this was no Gorilla Glass-covered smartphone; it already had several minor scratches on the watch face. Time to get a screen protector! 

After Googling around, I found that many Pebble users recommended the BestSkinsEver Pebble Screen Protector, so I thought I'd give it a go.

Packaging and Shipping:

The screen protectors arrived a day or two ahead of the projected arrival time even though I had opted for the cheapest (free) shipping. The two protectors come packaged in a thin cardboard sleeve with instructions on the back.

Application:

I have never been a big screen protector fan for my phone, so I haven't applied to many before. All the protectors I have applied, however, were the dry application type. The BestSkinsEver protector is a wet application type, meaning that you spray on a mixture of soap and water before applying the skin to the device. 

While applying the skin, the directions say to smooth out bubbles from the middle with a credit card. The Pebble's face is so small, however, that when I tried smoothing out bubbles the whole protector slid around. This was not a major issue though because there were no bubbles under the skin. 

After adjusting the position of the protector, it adheres to the device in a matter of minutes.

General Opinion:

The day after I had applied the screen protector, there were two areas with tiny bubbles under the surface. At first I tried to squeeze them out using a credit card, but was unsuccessful. I ended up using my finger nail to squeeze the bubbles out and after another day had passed the protector looked flawless.

The BestSkinsEver protector has a self healing effect that makes it almost impossible to make permanent marks on the skin. Taking your finger nail or a key to the protector will make a scratch at first, but after several minutes it will be completely gone. It also made the minor scratches on the Pebble itself disappear.

Conclusion:

If you are looking for a skin to keep your Pebble's face protected, BestSkinsEver is a very good option. My only complaint was the tiny bubbles under the surface, but that was a problem that was easily remedied.

Link to product page: BestSkinsEver Pebble Screen Protector



Thanks for reading!

How to Find and Replace Returns in Microsoft Word

Have you ever received a paper where after every single line the Return key was pressed? Well if you have then you know how annoying it is! You'd think you could just do a simple Find and Replace to get rid of all of them, but it turns out Microsoft didn't think that one through very well...

 Luckily for us it is not too hard to do though. Just find the characters "^13" and replace them with a space and everything should work out great!

Google LG Nexus 4

The Nexus 4 is the latest release in Google's Nexus line of Android phones. It's sleek looks, combined with top notch hardware, make this phone a truly amazing Android experience. But just like any phone out there, the Nexus 4 has some drawbacks as well. Keep reading to find out the good, the bad, and the ugly about LG and Google's latest Android beast.

The first thing I thought when I saw the Nexus 4 was how similar it looked to the Galaxy Nexus. And in fact it does resemble the Galaxy Nexus very much until you look more closely. Unlike the cheap, flimsy plastic that housed the previous Nexus's insides, this iteration of the Nexus boasts a premium looking and feeling glass back and soft-touch plastic sides. Also the concave front of the Galaxy Nexus is gone, and instead, there is a beautifully smooth, flat glass plate that melts off the edges, giving an undeniably orgasmic feel to each swipe and touch you make. Not only is it premium feeling, but premium looking as well. Underneath that amazing glass panel is a 4.7 inch 1280 x 768 IPS display, coming in at 318 PPI. Text looks remarkably sharp and with LG's new Zerogap display technology you can practically feel the onscreen content under your finger.

Welcome

Welcome to my review blog. I will be posting new reviews in the future so stay tuned! Thanks for visiting!