Author: Blancer

Photo: Spencer Higgins

Order a frozen margarita at an upscale resort in Cabo and the bartender will add tequila, lime juice, and triple sec to a fluffy mound of ice from his industrial blender—no errant ice chunks to clog your straw. Most affordable home blenders can’t match that consistency. But fill the Oster’s hopper with ice and in five minutes you’ll have enough Alpine-quality snow for a pitcher of top-shelf margs.

Wired Also good for snow cones. Sturdy pitcher feels party-proof.
Tired Sounds like a World War II bomber. Snow cones aren’t quite carnival-grade. Can’t do smoothies; frozen fruit gunks it up.

Photo: Spencer Higgins

Get your head out of the cloud! Sure Internet connections are prevalent. And, yeah, remote storage is only getting cheaper. But even Moore himself would likely concede that some data is too precious not to be backed up and carried with your IRL.

In that case, you’ll want to be prepared for anything. This USB drive is, quite frankly, more resilient than a Terminator. We swam with ours in the ocean, left it in the fridge for a couple hours, and even dropped it from a moving vehicle. The Corsair—and our data—survived it all.

The casing is made from anodized, CNC-milled, aircraft-grade aluminum. So the Survivor weighs just 1.4 ounces but is immune to rough handling (up to 1,500 g’s) and temperatures from -13F to 167F. And the screw cap’s watertight EPDM seal is certified for submerges down to 650 feet. Need more? You can back up an entire 16GB iPad on this little guy

WIRED: Slip-resistant ridges on the casing. Narrow profile doesn’t block adjacent USB ports when you plug it in. Read-Writes at 34MBps/28MBps. 10-year warranty. USB extension cable and dog-tag chain included. Also available in 32GB and 64GB models.

TIRED: Dropping it is fine. But with the circular design, you’ll want to avoid dropping it on hills. Dog-tag chain or no, it’s too big to be comfortably worn like a pendant.

We don’t live in a vacuum. Neither do our gadgets. From steamy bathrooms to grubby, sweaty hands, little bits of moisture tend to creep into our electronics.

Enter the Bheestie, an airtight plastic pouch that sucks— in a good way. It holds two smaller, porous bags that contain several peppercorn-sized pellets. In theory, these bags act like molecular sieves, absorbing moisture that’s managed to get inside your device. After 24 hours, goes the company claim, the beads will extract almost twice as much water as a cup of uncooked rice (a common DIY method for saving soggy gadgets).

The idea is twofold: Use the bag to de-moisturize your gadgets on a semi-regular basis for routine maintenance, and keep it on hand for H2Opacalypses.

Now, the company’s FAQ doesn’t promise miracles. But it does say reviving a phone dropped in the toilet isn’t out of the question. We started by stuffing a damp sponge into the bag and were impressed by how much water came running out only an hour later. So we decided to go BIG.

So we sacrificed a first-gen Droid (oops!) by letting the phone cannonball from waist high into the bowl. We fished it out, shoved it into a virgin bag, and waited. Within an hour, the bag was giving off noticeable heat— a byproduct of the absorption. Color us optimistic. But after 72 hours (the recommended duration), we cracked the Bheestie and found a dead Droid.

So if you’ve spilled a drink on your phone and can get it into a Bheestie fast enough, you might be ok. But if your device has spent any time completely submerged in water (or worse), you’re out of luck. But you already knew that.

WIRED Resuable: beads supposedly last up to year, depending on usage, and change color to indicate when a bag is past its prime.

TIRED 7.5″ x 5.5″ = pretty small. (Good luck fitting a tablet in there!) Even if rice isn’t quite as effective, it’s much cheaper, and more widely available.

Photo: Spencer Higgins

With a 136-degree field of view, this hybrid scuba mask/videocam sees everything you do and then some. That makes aiming a lot simpler. Throw it on and you’re ready to capture hands-free 720p video and 5-megapixel photos that rival pro work from just a few years back. Even while we were diving in wretched conditions to research oil-spill damage in the Gulf of Mexico—where a death grip on an anchor line was the only thing keeping us from being swept out to sea—the mask stayed sealed. Control was a cinch, too, including switching between video and still modes.

WIRED No-look buttons are easy to use, even in tricky dive situations. Great fit.

TIRED No way to manipulate or delete files without connecting to a computer—a problem if (hypothetically) an idiot reviewer on a rocking boat leaves the video on and fills the microSD card.

Photo: Spencer Higgins

It sounds counterintuitive, but the better a bike helmet vents, the heavier it will be. The holes and channels that move cooling air over your head require extra bulk to protect what’s inside it. Giro’s new Aeon uses a structural plastic shell that allowed designers to go all Biggest Loser on the inside without sacrificing comfort. We’ve put in several hundred miles in ours without wanting more airflow, yet the whole thing weighs just 7.9 ounces in a large.

WIRED Three-way customizable fit and barely there weight. Removable liner for washing.

TIRED Small adjustment knob is tough to dial with sweaty fingers. Priced for obsessives.

Photo: Spencer Higgins

Holy hibachi! This just became the foundation for most of our summer plans. The compact yet expansive gas-powered grill has enough room for six full-size steaks, which combined with its sizzling 650-degree top end let us feed eight guests a meal of burgers and lamb chops without wasting half the party cooking it all. The 13-pound rig packs neatly into itself, latching shut with its own legs, and the messenger-bag-style strap leaves your hands free for the beer. Though ostensibly a portable, the Fuego boasts features normally found on deck-hogging vanity ‘cues, chief among them a cast-iron grill that rides over a dishwasher-friendly catchment tray.

WIRED Convenient push-button electric ignition. Multi-sized canister adapters means you can hook up a small propane tank for extra mobility. Easy to clean.

TIRED The leg-release buttons get stuck a lot.

Most LED headlamps have an on/off switch and maybe a couple of intensity settings. The XP2 has an entire desktop utility that allows you to tweak the trade-off between beam intensity and burn time from the lamp’s high- and low-output LEDs. Crank it up for maximum safety during a nighttime run, or drop it to preserve the battery for a long hike from base camp. The internal USB-rechargeable lithium-ion cell is backed up by a compartment for three AAAs.

WIRED Flip-up lens for focusing the beam.

TIRED Extra battery compartment adds bulk. A $20 headlamp would be plenty for most casual users.

Photo: Spencer Higgins

The HDR-CX700V is Sony’s top-of-the-line consumer camcorder, and it’s fair to say that this sucker is loaded. Along with being able shoot 1920 x 1080 HD video at 60p, the HDR-CX700 has a whopping 96GB of internal flash memory and a Memory Stick Duo/SD Memory card slot if you want to add storage. Other noteworthy features include a 10x optical Sony G-series lens with a maximum wide angle of 26.3mm and a built-in GPS receiver for geo-tagging your HD footage.

As for low-light bona fides, the CX700V stacks up favorably, with a large, 1/2.88-inch CMOS sensor and a backside-illuminated sensor that places the circuitry on the rear of the chip to prevent it from blocking incoming light.

What does all this jargon mean for the real-world videographer? As we did with the Canon VIXIA G10, we started our test by shooting a kid blowing out his birthday-cake candles, which were the only light source in the scene.

Of all the cameras we looked at for this roundup, the Sony produced the least amount of noise during the candle test. The footage looked smooth and sharp even when played back on a 46-inch HDTV. We weren’t happy with how dark everything looked, though. The candlelight seemed warm and natural; it just didn’t go very far in the Sony.

The CX700 performed solidly enough outdoors but was a step behind the Canon Vixia G10 we reviewed with regard to dynamic range. The footage had slightly less detail in areas of high contrast and couldn’t quite match the Canon’s bright, warm color reproduction.

This camera did excel when it came capturing the action of our nighttime basketball game, however. The 10x optical zoom had smooth, cinematic control, and sound from the 5.1 channel surround mic was clear and life-like. The Wind Reduction feature also helped out tremendously.

The 3-inch LCD touch panel is half an inch smaller than the previous model (why, Sony, why?), but we really appreciated new capabilities like the options to switch between 60p and a more cinematic-looking 24p HD recording. We also liked the Cinema tone presets and manual control options for focus, exposure, white balance, iris, and shutter speed.

Our verdict on this feature-rich HD camcorder: Lots to like with a few disappointments. However, thanks to its generally sparkling image quality and a boatload of options, it’s easily one of the best consumer options on the market.

WIRED Also snaps 12MP photos?; 96GB of internal storage will let you record up to 40 hours of HD footage. Advanced focus and exposure adjustments including zebra and peaking will make you feel like a pro; touch tracking focus lets you lock in on your subject.

TIRED The USB cord tucked into the handgrip looks and feels dorky; Night Shot mode lets you record in darkness but everything is G.I. Joe green; Sony’s video editing software is not Mac-compatible.