Cecilia Daclan | CuteGeek

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Protect Your iPad

by Cecilia Daclan on June 15th, 2010

I tested three products designed to protect your iPad in various ways. First I tried out the Speck Shield View, which sells for $24.95. It comes in a 2 pack, and it’s supposed to stick to your iPad screen perfectly, protecting it from scratches and smudges. Getting it on the iPad was fairly easy. The product comes with instructions on how to get it on smoothly. However, once I peeled the backing to expose the protective film, a couple bubbles showed up that I couldn’t remove. Granted, they were just two small bubbles on the edges, but bubbles are still annoying. I give it a B for application and an A- for preventing fingerprint smudges.

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Random Googling Just Got a Whole Lot Cooler With the iPad

by Cecilia Daclan on April 6th, 2010

Boyfriend: I want an iPad.

Me: Why?

Boyfriend: So we can randomly Google at our coffee table.

Me: [Bewildered look on my face.]

After that conversation, we ended up at Best Buy because, according to Twitter, Best Buys across Southern California had not yet sold out of the iPad it’s first day out in the market. Well, those folks on Twitter were wrong, so we marched over to the Apple store on the next block and waited in line (with only one person ahead of us). When my boyfriend told the sales person he wanted an iPad, he opened the back door to grab one, and I caught a glimpse of a stack of iPads waiting to be bought. “Hmm…” I thought, “Doesn’t look like this thing will take off.” Continue Reading…

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Review: Pantech Impact

by Cecilia Daclan on February 11th, 2010

Did you see the Best Buy TV ads during the Christmas holiday with the Christmas carolers suggesting the guy buy his girlfriend a cell phone as a holiday gift? When my boyfriend saw that commercial he said “Why would you buy your girlfriend a cell phone for Christmas?” I had to disagree. I would totally appreciate a brand new cell phone that’s cute and filled with nice features, like the Pantech Impact.

The Impact is part of AT&T’s line of quick messaging phones. The phone I reviewed was a pretty soft pink, but it’s also available in blue. It flips open to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard with a 2.6” color screen. The front has a touch-screen with a numeric keypad with a small black and white screen. The phone is also fairly light and small, weighing in at 4.5 ounces and measuring 4.19″ x 2.04″ x 0.7″.
Continue Reading…

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Review: Toshiba Mini NB205-N313P

by Cecilia Daclan on August 2nd, 2009

“It’s so cute!” Those were the first words out of my mouth when I opened the box containing the Toshiba Mini NB205-N313P. I was given one to test in “Posh Pink,” but it’s also available in Frost White, Royal Blue, and Sable Brown.
Like all netbooks, it’s small and lightweight. However, the Toshiba NB205 seems a bit larger than some other netbooks out in the market. This is partly because it comes with a six-cell battery, which I’ll talk about more later in this review. Regardless, it still only weighs a little less than three pounds.

The laptop cover has a matte finish with diagonal etches. It sports a large Toshiba logo in the middle in a shiny silver. Open up the laptop and you see a glossy 10-inch LED screen with a full keyboard. A full keyboard on a 10-inch netbook is rare so it’s definitely a plus for the NB205. For a notebook, the keyboard was pretty easy to use. You have to get used to it at first, though. I punched in a few wrong letters the first few times I used the netbook.

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Can You Hear Me? Can You Hear Me Now?

by Cecilia Daclan on July 26th, 2009

header_05 Last month, I began searching for a new place to call home. Criteria that were at the top of my list included large closets, lots of natural light, and proximity to the beach. I’m happy to report that I found a place that met all three criteria. However, there was one key criteria that should have been on my list but wasn’t…cell phone reception.

It wasn’t until I decided to work from home one day that I realized I picked a location that generated only about one or two bars on my AT&T Wireless Blackberry Bold. I experienced dropped calls, “Can you hear me now?” conversations that resulted in the person on the other line hanging up on me, and sometimes the inability to even place a call. It was so bad, I resorted to an almost extinct species in the world of electronics – the home phone. Luckily, I had one, but I thought I’d only be using it to buzz people in from my security gate.

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Review: Samsung S1 Mini (Because Everyone Should Have a Hard Drive in Their Pocket)

by Cecilia Daclan on May 29th, 2009

I like to put backing up and flossing your teeth in the same category – the category that includes things you know you should do, but you don’t do, and when you realize you should have done it…it’s usually too late.

But with the Samsung S1 Mini, how can you not make backing up a regular activity? This thing is so small, so sleek, and so easy to use, it actually makes backing up enjoyable. The Samsung S1 Mini has a hard disk size of 1.8 inches and holds 120 GB. At 87mm x 62mm x 15.5 mm and 91g, it’s definitely convenient to carry around wherever you go, and it connects to any computer via a USB connection. You can use it on Windows XP/Vista or Mac OS X.

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Review: iHarmonix’s Platinum ev-Series

by Cecilia Daclan on April 9th, 2009

Sixty-dollars for earphones? That was my first reaction when I checked out iharmonix’s Platinum ev-Series in-ear earphones. I mean, I’ve got tons of earphones sitting around at home and in the office. Don’t they come free with a purchase of an iPod or other MP3 player? Why would I pay that much for earphones?

Then I put them on. Ok…you’ve sold me iharmonix. These aren’t just regular earphones that you can get for free or pay less than $10 for. The first thing I noticed when I put them on is that they blocked out quite a bit of noise, even without the music going. Of course, it’s not a BOSE Noise Cancelling Headphone, but it offers a small amount of noise reduction and is much more convenient to carry around than one of those bulky noise cancelling headphones.

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Pantech Matrix Pro Review

by Cecilia Daclan on March 7th, 2009

matrix-pro I just got a BlackBerry Bold a few weeks ago after my Treo 750 died (may it rest in peace). I was still in the honeymoon phase with my BlackBerry – oohhing and aahhing over its features, downloading applications like Facebook for BlackBerry and TwitterBerry, busting it out while waiting in line at the grocery store to discover more of its new features – when I was asked to review the new Pantech Matrix Pro.

How could I say no? It’s a brand new phone, and it looks pretty sleek. I’ve never used a phone with both a QWERTY and numerical keypad, so I was eager to test that out. First impressions are everything, and my first impression of the Pantech Matrix Pro was that it’s heavy. Weighing in at 5.34 ounces and with dimensions of 4.2 x 2.0 x 0.9 inches it’s not exactly slim. Technically, the BlackBerry Bold weighs 0.5 ounces more, but for some reason the Pantech Matrix Pro feels much heavier. For a night out, it would take up significant space in my clutch purse and could not be conveniently slipped into my jeans pocket. But, it’s not a piece of jewelry, so let’s move on to the more important stuff…I mean, it is a cell phone so let’s talk about functionality.

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