Category Archives: Feature Columns

By Evan Ackerman

I’m a huge fan of napping. It’s important to understand that napping is not the same as sleeping, in that actually getting into bed defeats the purpose of a nap, which is to just curl up on a piece of furniture and drop off (especially when you have other important things that you really should be doing). So without further ado, here’s our ode to napping: The Top 5 list of Nap Tech:

#5: MetroNap Nap-Pod

Metronaps is offering these little pods for rental in a few cities around the world, including New York. The pod reclines, a privacy shield descends, and then you powernap for 20 minutes, whereupon the pod will wake you up with a combination of an acoustic alarm and a gentle vibration. According to Metronaps (and others), a 20 minute powernap substantially increases productivity. Buying your own will cost about $8,000.

It’s not #1 because: it’s public, it’s designed for power naps (only 20 minutes), and it’s basically just a glorified recliner that costs $14 per nap.

Check out the top four after the jump.

… Continue Reading

By Evan Ackerman

[Every now and then our man Evan gets chatty and cranks out a feature length piece. They make for a good read, and this is one of them. We hear they'll show up now and then. -Ed.]

Batteries suck. We know they suck. They’re a necessary evil at this stage of our technological development. They’re bulky, they’re toxic, they never hold as much as you want them to, and (like all of us) as soon as they’re born, they start the weary and inevitable decline into uselessness. If you’ve ever owned an iPod (or pretty much any other device with a built-in battery) you know what I’m talking about. My iPod is down to about 2 reliable hours, my laptop gets 30 seconds out of a full charge if I’m lucky. As someone who travels a lot, I find it difficult to depend on the lifetime of internal batteries, especially when it comes to power hungry devices. That’s why I love the flexibility and interchangeability of “conventional” batteries, especially rechargeables. I can take my four rechargeable AAs and stick them in my TuneJuice to give me music from LAX all the way across the pacific (a 13 hour endeavour), and then swap the same batteries into my digital camera and take about a bazillion shots (after a quick recharge, of course). I know, integrated rechargeable batteries are sooooo much sexier, but at SOME point you have to put a premium on usability. It’s based on this philosophy of convenience and usefulness. After the jump, I am going to explain why I am such a big fan of interchangeable rechargeable batteries, and why you (and all your gadgets) should be too.… Continue Reading