Netatmo expands iOS-friendly Weather Station with Rain Gauge

Netatmo introduced its Weather Station (US$179) to the world in 2012, providing an easy way for iPhone owners to track indoor and outdoor temperatures and air quality at their homes or offices. Since that time, a vast number of users have enjoyed the ease of use of the free iOS app and the ability to see what's going on weather-wise not only in and around their own homes, but across the world through shared data. While I've used the Netatmo Weather Station for almost two years and have been impressed with how it just chugs along sending out data, I've regretted not having the ability to know how much precipitation has fallen at my home. The company has just released a new accessory for the Weather Station -- a $79 Rain Gauge that works with the base station to add precipitation measurement to the mix.

Specifications

• Dimensions: Funnel diameter: 5.0 in (12.7 cm), base diameter 3.5 in (8.89 cm), height 4.5 in (11.43 cm)


• Weight: 7.3 oz (206.95 gms)


• Type of rain gauge: tipping bucket


• Measuring range: .2 mm/hr to 900 mm/hr (.0078 inches/hr to 35.43 inches/hr)


• Accuracy: 1 mm/hr (.0394 inches/hr)


• Max. distance between base station and rain gauge: 100 m (328 feet)


• Power: Two AAA batteries (included)

Design Highlights

Netatmo's Weather Station is very stylish, with the interior base station being a sleek aluminum cylinder that does all of its work without being obtrusive. Likewise, the Rain Gauge is very attractive and would not be out of place on a patio or veranda.

On the bottom of the Rain Gauge is a common tripod screw mount, which means that it can be placed atop a number of widely available mounting options. For my tests, I just put the device on the ground -- not the best location, but it was for a temporary test.

The actual rain gauge is located within the body of the device under the funnel area. It uses a very common type of gauge called a "tipping bucket" -- there is a seesaw-like mechanism with two tiny buckets, one on each side of a counter. When a bucket fills with rain, it tips and empties itself while the other fills up. The back and forth motion of the mechanism is counted, which provides a highly accurate measure of just how much rain has fallen.

Functionality Highlights

The Rain Gauge was quite easy to add to the Netatmo Weather Station network, even without instructions (this was a pre-release unit). The process simply required pressing the top of the base station until the seldom-seen LED on the front of the unit glowed blue, at which point it restarted and added the gauge.

Once the Rain Gauge was added to the system, it was just a matter of waiting for rain. Here in dry Colorado, I was concerned that I might have to wait weeks until I'd be able to send the unit back to Netatmo, but fortunately we received a nice downpour last night that started at about 6 PM and dumped rain on and off for about four hours.

I own and operate a "professional" weather station, so I was able to make a comparison of the readings I got from both stations. Sure enough, both stations showed the rain starting and ending at about the same time. Looking at the hourly precipitation totals in the Netatmo app showed .06 inches in the first hour, .12 inches in the second hour, .09 inches in the third hour, and .13 inches in the fourth hour for a total of .40 inches. My other station showed .09 inches in the first hour, .15 inches in the second hour, .12 inches in the third hour, and .13 inches in the fourth hour for a total of .49 inches.

Upon retrieving the Netatmo Rain Gauge this morning I found out why it didn't measure as much precipitation as the other station -- it was located near some trees that are currently budding out and the funnel had a lot of "tree debris" that was blocking it. For the most part, though, I felt that the Netatmo gauge worked well and accurately measured as much of the rain as it could.

Conclusion

The Rain Gauge is a welcome addition to the Netatmo Weather Station ecosystem and adds another data point to any personal weather records you may wish to keep. Especially in drier climates, knowing exactly how much precipitation you received at your location can help save water used in keeping lawns and gardens thriving, and you'll always have that information on your iPhone with the Netatmo app. While the Rain Gauge is more pricy than a standard manual rain gauge, just think of it this way -- you don't have to empty the Netatmo Rain Gauge once a day.

Rating: 4 stars out of 4 stars possible

Jimi: A brilliant little innovation for iMac owners

The late great rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix was an innovator, doing things with amplifier feedback that had never been done before and changing the sound of rock music forever. Now design firm Bluelounge has given Jimi's name to a nifty little innovation that makes life easier for owners of the newer slim unibody iMacs. While it won't have as lasting an impact on history of the world as Jimi Hendrix's music did, the Jimi USB Port Extension (US$14.95) at least gives iMac users something to be thankful for every time they want to plug in a USB cable.

Jimi is cleverly designed to transition the vertical USB port on the back of the iMac to a horizontal USB port that pokes out from the bottom of your computer. Rather than blindly fumbling around trying to plug something into a port on the iMac, it's right at your fingertips at the bottom of the display. Jimi is unobtrusive and works on all four USB 3.0 ports on the 21.5" iMac slim unibody and the three leftmost (as viewed from the back of the computer) USB 3.0 ports on the 27" iMac slim unibody.

There's really not much more to be said about this little J-shaped port extender, other than if you have one of the late 2012 or newer iMacs, you need to buy at least one Jimi. The first time that you use it and don't have to grope the back of your iMac trying to find a port, you'll thank me.

Rating: 4 stars out of 4 stars possible

A second look at the Dock-It Pro iPad keyboard case ... and a giveaway

Last month, one of my fellow bloggers took a quick look at Parle Innovation's Dock-It Pro, a US$159 (introductory price of $129 still available) iPad keyboard case that's quite different from any other case on the market. I met the CEO of Parle Innovation, Mary Shulenberger, at Macworld/iWorld 2014 and she asked if it would be possible for the case to get the full TUAW review treatment, complete with a star rating. Well, the answer was "Yes!" and here's the review -- complete with a giveaway at the end.

Specifications

• Dimensions: 10-3/4 x 8-1/2 x 3/4 inches (27.3 x 21.59 x 1.91 cm)


• Weight: 1.4 lbs (.64 kg)


• Materials: Aluminum bezel, polycarbonate hard shell


• Keyboard: Standard QWERTY with iOS-specific top row

Design Highlights

At the present time, the Dock-It Pro is available only for iPad 2 through 4, with an iPad Air version apparently in the works. The first thing you notice upon opening the Dock-It Pro box is that it is unlike any iPad keyboard case you've ever seen before. A piece of paper with a large red STOP sign on it is the first indication that you'd better pay attention. That warning is to keep you from breaking the Dock-It right off the bat by forcing it open like a laptop. Instead, tapping a button on the case releases the top portion that holds the iPad, and you then slide it down out of the way prior to lifting the iPad up into typing mode. You'll find a few reminder stickers on the Dock-It Pro as well, telling you to push down on the release button, slide the lid, and then lift it up.

Dock-It Pro Keyboard Case for iPad 2/3/4

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Your iPad is held securely into place in the lid of the Dock-It Pro, and that's for a reason -- that lid rotates through a full 360 degrees, making it possible to you to use the tablet in a "laptop mode" with the keyboard, or have the screen facing out in a "strictly tablet" mode.

The keyboard is one of the larger ones I've seen on an iPad keyboard case. All of the keys are well-spaced and good-sized, and placed in their proper (i.e., similar to an Apple keyboard) locations. As noted in the specification list, there is a top row of keys that are used specifically for iPad functions such as locking the screen, launching Spotlight searches, pulling up a virtual keyboard even when you're using the "real" keyboard, cut/copy/paste, changing screen brightness or volume, and going back to the home screen from an app. The keyboard features a caps lock LED as well as a pairing LED.

The big feature of the Dock-It Pro is the rotating iPad holder, which makes it simple to use the iPad in "laptop mode" as well as in a more traditional "tablet mode", all without taking the iPad out of the case.

Functionality Highlights

Using the Dock-It Pro is actually quite simple as long as you follow those initial instructions and remember to press the release button to move the iPad from closed to keyboard mode or from tablet to keyboard mode. When the iPad is inserted into the holding tray, it locks in mechanically so there's no concern about it flopping out when you spin the iPad around from keyboard to tablet mode or vice-versa.

Unlike many soft cases or other keyboard cases, the Dock-It Pro actually uses a mechanical release mechanism as well. Just slide a button, and the iPad is unlocked and can be easily removed. That's a far cry from some cases with plastic trays that require a great deal of muscle to remove an iPad from.

All of the versatility of the Dock-It Pro comes at a price -- not the $129 price tag, but in terms of thickness and weight. With an iPad 3 installed in it, the Dock-It Pro weighs just over 3 pounds -- that's heavier than the 13-inch MacBook Air, which is a fully-functional laptop computer. Likewise, in the tablet mode the Dock-It Pro is over three-quarters of an inch thick, which could be uncomfortable over the long run. On the plus side, at least you can pop the iPad out in a second when you need to use it as a tablet.

It is obvious that the engineers at Parle Innovation paid attention to details, though. There is a pass-through grille for the single speaker of the iPad, a gap for plugging in the 30-pin connector for charging, and a pass-through port for the headphone jack. There's even a small pop-out stand about an inch high that puts the keyboard at a comfortable slight angle for typing.

I have to admit to agreeing to some of the comments made by Erica in her review -- while the Dock-It Pro is well designed and nicely built, I feels like it is a solution in search of a problem. For those who want to easily switch between tablet and keyboard modes on the iPad, there are much lighter solutions that are available today. The Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for iPad is available for pretty much every iPad ever made with the exception of the original, it's extremely light, has a very good keyboard, and it can be popped off in a second when the user wants to just have a tablet in hand.

Sure, the Dock-It Pro provides much more protection than a number of lightweight keyboard case solutions. But there are a lot of very protective keyboard cases that do offer as much or more protection without the thickness and weight. As a professional engineer, I also know that the more complicated a solution is, the more chances there are for something to break. That's why the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) principle is something that every designer should keep in mind. A keyboard case shouldn't require a five-page white paper to explain its design, and a properly designed case wouldn't need a bunch of warning stickers and fliers to keep users from breaking it.

That being said, what is the target audience for the Dock-It Pro? I think that anyone who needs to use an iPad primarily for typing would be very pleased with the keyboard and the protection provided by the case. I like the little pop-out stand, which gives the Dock-It Pro a slight tilt for comfortable typing, and the choice of iPad function buttons on the unit is top-notch.

Conclusion

For typing on an iPad, there's probably no better keyboard available at this time than the one built into the Dock-It Pro. At the $129 introductory price point, it's quite reasonably priced for a high-quality iPad keyboard case. However, the weight, thickness and mechanical complexity of the case may turn off some potential buyers.

Rating: 2-1/2 stars out of 4 stars possible

Giveaway

Have an iPad 2, 3 or 4? Would you like a versatile keyboard case with a really good keyboard? Then enter our giveaway of a Dock-It Pro courtesy of Parle Innovation and TUAW. Here are the rules for the giveaway:

• Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.


• To enter, fill out the form below completely and click or tap the Submit button.


• The entry must be made before April 26, 2014 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Time.


• You may enter only once.


• One winner will be selected in a random drawing and will receive a Parle Innovation Dock-It Pro valued at US$129.


• Click Here for complete Official Rules.

Logitech announces thinner Ultrathin Keyboard Cover, 3 new iPad cases

Not content to rest on its laurels as one of the top iPad accessory manufacturers in the world, Logitech today announced an array of new products and a new version of its best-selling Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for iPad Air and iPad mini. The new products include the Logitech Hinge (US$59.99 for iPad Air, $49.99 for iPad mini), the rugged Logitech Big Bang (US$99.99 for iPad Air, $79.99 for iPad mini), and the Logitech Turnaround (US$59.99 for iPad Air, $49.99 for iPad mini). Two lucky TUAW readers will get a chance to win the brand new Hinge or Turnaround at the end of this post, so read on.

Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover

The Ultrathin is the world's best-selling keyboard cover for iPad, and beginning next month iPad owners in the US and Europe can get their hands on the new version of the device. Believe it or not, Logitech was able to make the new Ultrathin even thinner and lighter that the existing model; it's now only 6.4 mm thick and weighs in at about two-thirds of the weight of the iPad. The cover attaches with a magnetic clip and features aluminum construction to match the exterior of the iPad.

Another new feature of the revised Ultrathin is the ability to adjust the iPad to a number of different viewing angles instead of just one. The result should give iPad Air and iPad mini owners the flexibility to use the keyboard/iPad combo in a lot more situations.

Pricing for the revamped Ultrathin will be $99.99 for the iPad Air model and $89.99 for the iPad mini version. Be sure to keep an eye on TUAW for a full review of the new version soon.

Logitech Big Bang

The Big Bang is designed to keep your iPad Air or iPad mini protected from "drops, screen impacts, bumps, scratches and spills." The Big Bang has a shock-absorbent shell and case cover made of materials that are liquid-repellant and wipeable, and the built-in stand provides a range of display angles for comfortable viewing.

Logitech says that the Big Bang actually exceeds the US Military Drop Standard, so that should provide some peace of mind when the kids are playing with your iPad Air. For the iPad Air, the Big Bang weighs 14.53 ounces (412 grams) and has outside dimensions of 9.74 x 7.09 x .62 inches (247.3 x 180 x 15.86 mm). The iPad mini version weighs just 9.74 ounces (276 grams) and dimensions of 8.19 x 5.69 x .62 inches (208.01 x 144.61 x 15.62 mm).

The Big Bang will be shipping next month in two colors, Super Fluo and Graphite

Logitech Turnaround

The Turnaround is the versatile member of the Logitech iPad case family. A rotating frame makes it possible to prop your iPad up in portrait or landscape mode. The exterior is made of a water repellant plastic material that has the appearance of black brushed aluminum, and there's a magnetic closure to keep the case closed while in transit.

Dimensions of the iPad Air version are 9.65 x 6.97 x .75 inches (245 x 177 x 19 mm), and it weighs just 12.2 ounces (346 grams). The smaller iPad mini version measures just 7.99 x 5.55 x .75 inches (203 x 141 x 19 mm) and weighs 8.1 ounces (230 grams).

Logitech Turnaround Case

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So, how does the Turnaround work in real life? The iPad pops into a thin but strong plastic shell that has cutouts in all the right places for the camera, speakers, switches and ports. The swivel of the Turnaround works very smoothly, and placing the iPad into either portrait or landscape orientation is swift and easy. There's enough friction between the inside of the Turnaround and the side of the plastic shell to hold the iPad in place in a variety of angles.

The pricing for the Turnaround is very reasonable considering the quality of the product and the warranty that comes with it. Logitech offers a 1-year limited hardware warranty in the US and Asia, 2 years in EMEA.

Rating: 3-1/2 stars out of 4 stars possible

Logitech HInge

The new Hinge is more of a traditional folio-style iPad case than the Turnaround, which begs the question of why it is priced the same. Part of the pricing could involve the materials used on the Hinge, which (on the review case) included a nice fabric exterior and purple microfiber interior.

Dimensions of the iPad Air version are 9.64 x 6.91 x .57 inches (244.8 x 175.6 x 14.5 mm), and it weighs just 11.8 ounces (335 grams). The smaller iPad mini version measures just 8.07 x 5.55 x .57 inches (205 x 141 x 19 mm) and weighs 8.0 ounces (227 grams).

The iPad fits into a slender plastic tray that holds it into place, once again with cutouts at the appropriate places. The cover is equipped with a magnet to turn the iPad on or off when opened or closed, and the friction between the plastic tray and the microfiber interior is perfect for keeping the iPad stationary at a variety of viewing angles.

Logitech Hinge Case

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While the Hinge isn't as versatile as the Turnaround, it has quite a warm "high touch" feel to it. If you don't need to view your iPad in portrait mode, the Hinge is perfectly suited to keeping you amused while your device is in landscape orientation. My only gripe is that the pricing is a bit high for the Hinge and should be lowered by $10 to $15 to reflect the pricing of competitive folio covers.

Rating: 3 stars out of 4 stars possible

Giveaway

It's not often that TUAW is able to announce a giveaway for a new product the same day it's announced, but that's the situation here! We have both a Logitech Turnaround Case and a Hinge Case available, and all you need to do is enter to have a chance of winning one of the two. Here are the rules for the giveaway:

• Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.


• To enter, fill out the form below completely and click or tap the Submit button.


• The entry must be made before April 25, 2014 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Time.


• You may enter only once.


• Two winners will be selected in a random drawing. One will receive a Logitech Hinge Case for iPad Air valued at $59.99 while the other will receive a Logitech Turnaround Case for iPad Air also valued at $59.99.


• Click Here for complete Official Rules.

Narrative Clip lifelogging camera: Hands-on with the wearable photo capture device

Being both a fan of innovative hardware and a photography buff, one of the products I eagerly anticipated testing was the Narrative Clip livelogging camera (US$279). The product began life as a 2012 Kickstarter project named Memoto and finally reached market this year, so when I was offered the chance to test the Narrative Clip camera, I jumped at the opportunity. What I found is a product that is well-designed and built, but that also demonstrates some of the pitfalls of wearable devices that are meant to capture images all the time.

The Device

The Narrative Clip looks like no other digital camera you've seen before. In fact, it looks more like one of the many Bluetooth tracking chips that seem to be so popular on Kickstarter these days. Measuring just 1.42 x 1.42 x 0.35 inches (36 x 36 x 9 mm) and weighing just .7 oz (20 grams), Narrative has a clip on the back of it (hence the name), a tiny hole indicating the location of the lens, a set of LEDs to indicate power and status, and a micro-USB port for charging.

It's available in three colors: white, gray, and orange. Inside the smooth plastic exterior lie the brains of the Narrative Clip, which include 8 GB of memory, a GPS receiver, an accelerometer, a magnetometer, and an image sensor.

When clipped to a collar or pocket, the Narrative Clip begins snapping one 5 megapixel image every 30 seconds. Don't want to take photos at a particular point? Just put it into a pocket or place it face down on a surface and it stops snapping images. If you see something that you want to capture but don't want to take the chance on missing the photo, a double-tap on the device tells it to take a picture right away.

The App

The Narrative Clip is simply a digital camera with sensors built into it, and as such there is no way to view images directly on the tiny device. To transfer all of those images to cloud storage (one year free storage is included in your purchase), you'll need to have either a Mac or PC running the free Narrative Uploader software.

So how do you view your images? Once you connect the Narrative Clip to your Mac or PC, the images are uploaded to the cloud and then processed. Sophisticated algorithms look at the quality of the images and the location where they were captured, and then "moments" are created. Each moment is made up of a series of photos. I found that most of the moments were rather short, although there were some that ran as long as an hour.

The cloud processing of images is also one of the reasons that the Narrative Clip can last for about two days on a single charge. Geolocation through GPS is quite power-intensive, so the device captures the location information but doesn't geotag individual images until processing is done in the cloud.

Narrative Clip Camera

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Now the images aren't viewed on your Mac or PC; instead, they're processed online into moments and then viewed with the free Narrative app (iOS and Android). The app displays a timeline of the moments, and each moment can be scrolled through to view all of the images. There's a "trim moment" button that is enabled by default to hide lower quality photos.

With a tap on the moment, it begins to scroll automatically through the images. A one hour moment made up of about 110 photos played back in about 44 seconds. Individual images can be selected with a tap and shared to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or mailed to others. Images can also be favorited ("starred" in the Narrative vernacular), set as the cover photo for the moment, downloaded to your photo library, or deleted.

The Narrative Camera In Real Life

The Narrative Clip is going to last about two days on a charge in real life. By real life, I mean that you're honestly not going to be wearing this thing 24/7. For example, over the Easter weekend I took it off when I was at church services because it felt inappropriate to be snapping images during a service. While at a Major League Baseball game on Saturday night, I definitely took the device off when I went to the restroom!

But there's one other thing that happened during the weekend that I can imagine owners of Google Glass have also encountered -- having other people tell you to turn off your device because they don't want to have their photo taken. Shortly after I started wearing the Narrative Clip, my wife asked what it was and I told her -- and she promptly told me to turn it off when I was around her. A friend dropped by at one point on Saturday, so out of courtesy I told her what that little white box on my shirt collar was. She referred to the constant capture of images as "creepy".

For the most part the images captured are quite good; the camera does a great job of handling varying light conditions, it knows what side is "up", and it can even be told to take a photo with a double tap on the case. On occasion the clothing that the Narrative Clip was attached to would point the camera up towards the sky -- I have a lot of photos of a crowd microphone at the baseball game silhouetted against the sky that are quite useless.

But what I found was that despite the quality of the images, the subject of the images was often quite boring. Perhaps that's just a reflection of my middle-aged life; some of the examples shown on the Narrative website show groups of young people running around on beaches, and I suppose this would be a lot more fun if I spent more time engaged in group activities.

Where I could see the Narrative Clip being extremely useful is on vacations, especially during activities that I normally take the time to capture in photographs. It could be a second eye, snapping images that are more candid and less composed. And in special places or at special times, it would be incredible to have a photographic record that is being captured without having to constantly be pulling out my DSLR.

One feature I wish the Narrative Clip had would be a way to automatically turn the stream of images into a short movie. I've seen several examples where people have taken Narrative Clip images and made them into videos (some time-lapse sunrises are incredible!), but those are done manually.

Conclusion

I have mixed, but mainly positive feelings about the Narrative Clip. It's an amazing piece of hardware that demonstrates just how far digital photography has come in a relatively short amount of time. The idea of automatically capturing one image every 30 seconds during some activities is fascinating, and the Narrative Clip's dependence on uploading through a Mac or PC is actually quite smart as it doesn't overload your smartphone with a pile of unprocessed images.

But is it right for you? That's up to each individual to decide. If the thought of taking a lot of candid photos seems ludicrous to you, then I'd have no problems recommending that you save your money for other things. For those of you who would love to have a way to automatically capture the fleeting images of your lives, the Narrative Clip is a brilliant way to do just that.

Rating: 3-1/2 stars out of 4 stars possible

A roundup of last week's popular and featured articles on TUAW

Last week was a busy one with your favorite TUAW writers posting some excellent How-To guides, commentary and other useful articles. Here's a quick roundup of our recent feature worthy posts you may have missed:

• Apps We Actually Use: NotesTab Pro lets me sync notes from Mac to iPad


• iPhone 101: Add a useful message or contact information to your lock screen


• - ..- .- .-- presents 5 apps for World Amateur Radio Day


• 10 iOS games that are 10 times better with an MFi controller


• Mac 101: Add a useful message to your OS X login screen


• How to create your own coiled iPhone charging cord


• Auto-Save Microsoft Word with Keyboard Maestro


• It's way too easy to fake a photo of a "new" iPhone


• How to cancel App Store magazine subscriptions


• How to turn your iPhone or iPad into a retro game console without jailbreaking


• Who else could direct the Jobs movie and what would it be like?


• iPhone 101: Improve the App Store search experience with this easy trick


• Why 9:41 AM is always the time displayed on iPhones and iPads


• Rumor Roundup: Fourth-power stupid

TUAW will be back next week with another round of handy features, so be sure to drop by to see what's new and what's useful.