LITTLE ROCK — I have a couple more possibilities for your Christmas lists this week. These two items may be off the beaten path, but they’ll be great for that tech lover who seems to have all the other tech toys.
The first product is one that I mentioned in the holiday buying guide published in this newspaper last month, but I didn’t really delve into why I was recommending it. Well, I’m going to delve.
The product is the Netatmo Urban Weather Station. This is a gift for the ultimate weather geek in your family. It’s pricier than those digital readout stations you typically see in the stores, but it does so much more than they do.
This weather station monitors both indoor and outdoor conditions, including temperature, humidity and air quality. The monitor is actually your smart phone. The weather station includes access to a free app that can be used with any iPhone 4 or later or smart phone with Android 4.0 or later.
The weather station includes two cylindrical sensors. The larger one stays inside and the smaller one goes outside. The indoor sensor must be plugged in, and it includes a port on the back to connect it to your smart phone for setup. The outdoor sensor works on batteries and warns you via the app when their energy level is getting low.
The most difficult part to installation may be figuring out where to put the outdoor sensor. It needs to be in the shade, because direct sunlight will give you inaccurate readings (like when you park in the sun in the summer and your car’s thermometer reads 121 degrees). The sensor also can’t get wet because, after all, it is an electronic device. The manual suggests hanging it under the eaves of the south side of your house. That was a bit difficult for me, but I managed to find a corner of my front porch that worked perfectly. The kit included a mounting screw if I needed it, but I was able to use the included mounting strap instead, and wove it around a piece of ironwork on my porch.
Once both sensors were up and running, I got readings immediately. The sensors are so sensitive they give the temperature down to a tenth of a degree. The indoor sensor told me the CO2 (carbon dioxide) level in my home, which lets me know when it’s time to open a window to alleviate the “stuffiness.”
There is one reading missing from my display, and that’s outdoor air quality. The software gets its readings from various partners, assuming the partners have or use the capabilities necessary to distribute the information in a way the weather station can pick up. Unfortunately, the outdoor air-quality information in Arkansas isn’t distributed in this way in all areas, so it may not show up properly. In that case, you simply get a message that says “not available.”
Not only does the weather station monitor the current readings, but it also charts those readings and stores them in your online account, so you can look up your weather data anytime and download charts from Netatmo’s website. You can also see charts of the most recent readings by tilting the phone sideways. It comes in handy - I'm learning that my house could use a bit of insulation work to make it more energy efficient.
The Urban Weather Station is great for weather geeks or simply those who need to monitor the humidity and air quality in their homes for health reasons. It’s fairly easy to set up and very easy to use, provided you have a newer smart phone. This will definitely be a great gift for the weather fan on your list.
The next product is more for the audio enthusiast in your life, particularly those who like to record their own music or who frequently need to record lectures or the like.
The device is the Mikey from Blue Microphones. The Mikey is a double-sided, stereo microphone that plugs into the dock connection of any iPhone or iPad (though you will need a Lightning adapter to use it with an iPhone 5 or iPad Mini). The microphone then can be used with any app that can record audio.
The Mikey includes an audio gain switch that sets the recording ability to certain frequencies, so you can record extra-low audio or extra loud audio without the sound fluctuating wildly. The third option is to leave it in auto, so the microphone picks up the main sound and adjusts as needed.
The Mikey does a great job in auto mode, but the audio gain level for higher frequencies (extra loud) is very limited. Standard audio will come out nearly too soft to use.
Otherwise, the Mikey does its job very well, and it does so for a lot less money than full-size microphones I’ve seen.
These gifts may offer a little something different for the tech fans in your life. If not, no worries. I have more to come.
Melissa L. Jones can be reached via e-mail at [email protected].
Where it’s @
The Netatmo Urban Weather Station requires an iPhone 4 or later or iPad or later or a smart phone with Android 4.0 or later; and the free Netatmo app from the App Store or Google Play. The product retails for $179. The Mikey microphone requires an iPhone or iPad product (Lightning adapter required for the Mini and the iPhone 5). The product retails for $99. More information on the weather station is available at www.netatmo.com. More information on the Mikey is available at www.bluemic.com
Business, Pages 21 on 12/10/2012