Macenstein

Review: PowerSkin battery for iPhone 4

As anyone who’s ever read my Wikipedia page knows, I’m an iPhone battery whore. I suppose ultimately it is a compliment to Apple that I use my iPhone so much during the day that the built-in battery alone is usually not sufficient to make through on one charge (although I suppose the case could be made that Apple could have made the thing slightly thicker and thrown... Read More

Review: Otterbox iPhone 4 Reflex Case

Ahhh iPhone Cases – the $40 accessory you never factor into the cost of owning an iPhone. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the fact is you need ‘em, so you might as well get a good one. Otterbox has a well deserved reputation for providing best-in-class (somewhat bulky) protection against falls and spills, and their Reflex case for the iPhone 4 is another nice addition... Read More

Review: PaintMee and SketchMee for Mac

No, that's not a photo, it's an ultra high-res, detailed sketch of a photo (scroll down) The Mac has long been thought of the “artists” computer, but what if you can’t paint or draw worth a lick? Well, odds are even if you can’t paint, you can probably take a blurry photo, right? Well, that might be all you need in order to create works of art,... Read More

Review: PhoneSuit’s 8200mAh Primo Power Core

As any true iPhone power-user knows (a “power-user” being defined as any iPhone user who owns both Angry Birds and Tiny Wings), having an extra battery’s worth of juice these days is a must. And where having ONE extra battery’s worth of juice is good, as you can imagine, having FIVE battery charges is just awesome. Enter the 8200mAh Primo Power Core from... Read More

Review: Audioengine N22 Amp, P4 speakers, and S8 Subwoofer – Big sound, small footprint, No Dock required

Easily one of the more annoying aspects of being a loyal Apple customer is dealing with the Dock connector. Oh sure, it works great when you buy your brand new iPod touch or iPhone, and then buy your similarly brand new iPod speaker system with dock connector. But just wait a year. Apple has a tendency to make incrementally small, almost unnoticeable changes to the way their gear... Read More

Games That Don’t Suck: Great Little War Game (Who knew war could be so adorable?)

GAMES THAT DON’T SUCK is a feature dedicated to games that I think are well worth your hard earned money, but not worth me sitting down and spending 3 hours crafting an in-depth review (these things are usually 99¢ after all). However, you can rest assured that any game bearing Macenstein’s GTDS rating is worth buying, sight unseen, based solely on my expert opinion. ... Read More

GrandPerspective: A colorful (and FREE) way to reclaim hard drive space

Earlier today I Tweeted a pic of what my hard drive looks like through the eyes of GrandPerspective, a free utility that creates a graphical representation of the sizes of the files and folders on your Mac. A couple people asked me what it was, so I figured I’d do a quick post about it. Basically, you tell GP a location to scan on your hard drive (I just chose the whole... Read More

Review: iHome’s iD9 Portable App-friendly Rechargeable Speaker System for iPad/iPhone/iPod

Given that I very rarely move more than 10 feet during a given day, it’s odd how obsessed I am with portable iPhone speakers. I guess it’s sort of like how on the night before the first day of school each year I would run my hands across all those brand new school supplies, with thoughts of the potential of what might be. Similarly, portable speakers conjure up visions... Read More

Review: Epson WorkForce 635 All-in-One

In case you never got the memo, the days of buying a stand alone printer, scanner, copier or fax machine are officially over. There was a time when the idea of buying an all-in-one device was a risky venture, as not only were they expensive, but if any one (or two) of the components crapped out on you, you were left with an expensive and bulky device that now needed an extra bulky... Read More

Games that don’t suck: Helsing’ Fire

GAMES THAT DON’T SUCK is a feature dedicated to games that I think are well worth your hard earned money, but not worth me sitting down and spending 3 hours crafting an in-depth review (these things are 99¢ after all). However, you can rest assured that any game bearing Macenstein’s GTDS rating is worth buying, sight unseen, based solely on my expert opinion. Helsing’s... Read More