Kind of Obsessed

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This Strange Alarm Clock Isn’t Really an Alarm Clock, But It Works Wonders

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Kind of Obsessed

In “Kind of Obsessed,” we dish on the products we can’t get enough of. Jimmy MacDonald, co-founder of bedding company Authenticity50, is obsessed with Philips’ SmartSleep Connected Alarm. Here’s why.

I’m someone that struggles to wake up in the morning — particularly in the winter months when there are layers upon layers of gray and black outside and rain pouring down. Furthermore, waking up in a dark room to an alarm blaring is the hunter-gatherer version of a pack of hyena’s attacking your camp just before dawn. It gets the job done but it’s a horrible way to start your day.

Then I came across the SmartSleep Connected Alarm. It mimics waking up in the outdoors; glowing a nice warm orange to simulate the sunrise before your alarm time, then, at the time your alarm is actually set for, birds start to chirp or waves start to break on shore, slowly waking you up in a more natural way with a warm sunrise-y glow. It’s not quite as nice as waking up to an orange sun at dawn in a sleeping bag, but it’s the closest you can get without leaving your room.

I wake up feeling better, less stressed and I actually get out of bed rather than pushing snooze for 30 minutes. Getting a better night’s sleep is a great way to improve your health, lose weight and get more done — but waking up properly will help all that as well. Now I wake up in a good mood, ready to start my day and get stuff done.

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February 18, 2020 / Comments Off

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What Snowboarding’s Latest Innovation Means For Skiers

When I got invited to North America’s first indoor ski complex, New Jersey’s Big Snow American Dream, a couple months back to check out the latest iteration of Burton’s Step On bindings, I was beyond stoked. Not only would I be among the first people to shred the facility, but also I would get to test a product I’d been deeply curious about since its launch a couple years ago. Could it possibly be the time-saving game-changer of my dreams? Only one way to find out.

And you can ease off the edge of your seat now, because spoiler alert: Step-Ons totally work. Burton rarely introduces products that don’t, and the brand clearly put a lot of R&D into creating a system that functions pretty seamlessly — and is pretty easy to explain.

First you’ve got a boot featuring three grippy outcroppings, one at the back and two at the front. Press down firmly into a high-backed binding outfitted with complimentary clasps at those three connection points, and you are instantly clicked in — more securely, Burton’s engineers assure me, then you would be with traditional straps.

Once you get to the bottom of a run, pull a little lever to release your back foot, and you’re ready for your next lift ride. It takes a little practice, but once you get the hang, you just might find yourself ruined for all other bindings.

And yet, lapping Big Snow with a bunch of other snowboarding media, I quickly started to take the tech for granted. So much so that I almost got lulled into thinking that this innovation was no big deal. Like I hadn’t spent what amounts to hours of my life on mountains all across the world, messing with straps instead of riding. Even though I taught myself how to strap in standing up — in a bout of a laziness several years back — it still takes time.

How much time? That’s something I only came to appreciate when I headed up to Vermont’s Mount Snow a month later.

With skiers.

See, as much as I hate to admit it, skiers are the real victim of snowboarding’s traditional binding systems. Along with the bitter resentment they feel every time we boarders stroll into the bar for après ski without a thought of ditching our cushy boots, skiers are also the ones feeling the minutes tick away whenever they come off the lift in a mixed group. Already clicked into their skis, they’re ready and raring to descend, only to look back at us one-plankers still fumbling with our straps.

Until now.

“Holy crap, you are so much faster,” my skiing buddy Rich raved when I asked him what he thought of the Step-Ons. “It’s almost like you’re on skis.”

Of course, such a comment is utter madness. But it’s also the strongest possible testament to how game-changing these bindings really can be.

Cruising Mount Snow, I spotted a few other riders rocking Step-Ons, but this revolution has yet to fully overtake the boarding world, probably because it takes some faith — and coin. The boots and bindings only work in concert, and the cheapest Step-On bundle is $550. That price is not exorbitant, but it’s enough to give many riders pause.

And yet, it’s clear Burton is on to something. As I noted last month, a German brand called CLEW just won an ISPO award for its own take on a revolutionary binding. And just a couple weeks ago, at the Outdoor Retailer Snow Show, I got a chance to play around with K2’s Clicker x HB binding (pictured above), which combines the Clicker tech the brand developed years ago with a highback to give boarders the level of control they want and the convenience they crave.

For the record, other brands have peddled their own easy-in, easy-out systems over the years: most notable among them is probably Flow Bindings, with its unique rear-entry approach. But considering that Burton has more than 30 percent of the snowboard market share and K2 Snowboards (plus its sister Ride) holds over 10 percent, we’re now looking at the makings of a movement.

Which means more brands will try to replicate the tech, and prices will eventually come down. Heck, in a few years, traditional bindings may be as rare a sight around the mountain as skinny skis or cambered boards.

Snowboarders’ — and skiers’ — lives may never be the same.

Second photo by Jesse Dawson. Third photo courtesy of K2.

Steve Mazzucchi

Steve Mazzucchi is Gear Patrol’s outdoors and fitness editor. Outside the office, you can find him mountain biking, snowboarding, motorcycling or sipping a dram of Laphroaig and daydreaming about such things.

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February 11, 2020 / Comments Off

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This Travel Adapter Changed the Way I Use AirPods

When Twelve South announced its nifty little travel accessory, the AirFly ($40), last month, I honestly couldn’t wait to get my hands on one. Its promise was big. It allowed anybody to listen to in-flight movies with AirPods. Previously, you’d have to use a wired headphone — most likely the cheap ones that Delta provides — and plug it into the 3.5mm jack in the armrest or next to the monitor to hear those movies. Not with the AirFly. After an initial pairing process that takes less than 20 seconds, you can plug the AirFly into that said headphone jack and listen to those yet-to-be-released airplane flicks with your AirPods. Beautiful.

As somebody who loves their AirPods — I’m on my second pair after leaving my first set in a California hotel room, but I digress — the AirFly excited me, though not for the reasons you might think. I don’t fly often, so the prospect of using AirFly and my AirPods on an airplane didn’t totally do it for me. Instead, I wanted to see how AirFly changed the way I play video games.

You won’t catch me in big eSports tournaments or anything like that, but I do dabble in the dark arts of a Nintendo Switch and an Xbox One. For the past few weeks, I’ve been using the AirPlay and my AirPods to play both games — and there are pros and cons to both. The Nintendo Switch really lends itself to the AirPlay. The handheld console doesn’t have Bluetooth built-in — a surprising omission, actually — so you need wired headphones if you don’t want everyone around you to hear everything. And the AirFly works seamlessly with the Switch; after pairing with the AirPods, I just plugged the AirFly into the Switch’s headphone jack and was good to go. Boom.

But I expected the AirFly to work well with the Switch. Going into my testing I really wanted to know was whether the AirFly would work with Xbox One — if I plugged it into a controller, would I be able to use my AirPods while playing Xbox Live with friends? The answer is “yes,” but mostly “no.”

I tried the AirFly with two different Xbox One controllers — a new controller with a 3.5mm jack and an older one that required a headset adapter ($25). Both worked pretty much the same: the AirPods could play the game’s auto and I could hear my friends, but the built-in microphone didn’t work, so my friends couldn’t hear me. This wasn’t entirely unexpected, as AirPods have been known to have some issues when paired with some non-iPhone smartphones — but still, this was a bit of a bummer.

At the time of testing, I was also playing around with the Oculus Go, the company’s new portable VR headset. It has a 3.5mm jack for audio, so I was able to use the AirFly (and my AirPods) while watching the World Cup and playing ‘Settlers of Catan’ in virtual reality. I know that the AirFly was designed specifically to allow people to listen to their AirPods on flights, but I found some other uses. True, I wasn’t able to replace my current gaming headset with your AirPods — most serious gamers wouldn’t dream of doing this anyway — but you can’t blame me for trying. I just like AirPods too damn much.

Editor’s Note: It’s worth noting that the AirPlay isn’t a revolutionary product. There are other Bluetooth receivers on the market that can essentially do the same job. However, the AirFly is specifically marketed for AirPods and has an instruction guide that’s specifically geared to help AirPod owners pair their AirPods — what to press, and for how long, etc. It’s just easier, and I appreciate that.

June 20, 2018 / Comments Off

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